Legend of the Chaos Key
by Rudolphtheechidna
Summary: Robotnik has come back, and he's searching for the ultimate power source, the Chaos Force. Can Sonic and this new echidna who seems to hold the key to the infinite power of the universe, stop him in time? Sequel to A Sonic Highschool Story. Revised.
1. Chapter 1

~BOOM!!!~

Multiple explosions sound across the desert as balls of fire fell from the sky like rain in a lightning storm. The balls of fire destroyed everything and everyone in their path, incinerating everything in their wake. Homes being destroyed, echidnas being hurled through the skies, disintegrating in the flames, even killing the innocent children. Then suddenly from out of the back sky came a human floating in some sort of aircraft laughing pleased with the destruction of this land…

"Ah!!!" screamed a chocolate brown echidna that awoke from his nightmare. "Pant… pant… pant… that was… pant… pant… no dream… pant… pant…" Then the echidna looked down at his chest to see a glowing gold key attached to a chain wrapped around his neck.

"Please…"

"Rudolph! Rudolph, are you alright in there? Came a voice just outside his door.

"Yes mother, I'm fine." He responded, "It's alright, you can come in."

The door slowly opened relieving an older black female echidna with a worried look on her face. "Are you sure you're alright, my son?" she asked.

Rudolph stared at the key around his neck and rose from his bed, "Mother, you must get everyone together for an immediate evacuation."

"What? Why?" She asked staring at him with a look of confusion and worry.

"Someone is coming… and is coming for the Chaoskey." Rudolph said as he stared at the Chaoskey.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Very well." She responded as she began to walk out of his room but then stopped to turn around. "What about you?"

"I'm going to stay behind so I can deal with this attacker." He spoke softly yet emotionless.

"No you can't." Rudolph's mother said as she grabbed him by the shoulders, "There's no reason for you to stay behind."

"Believe me, if I were to leave, this person would somehow track me." Rudolph spoke as his mother began to let go of him. "If I were to leave with you, I would just be putting the others at risk."

"Then please promise me that you'll come back alive."

"Yes, I promise mom."

"Good." She said as she turned for the door, but then she turned back with a smile on her face, "I love you my son."

"I love you too." Then his mother left to warn the others to leave at once.

Hours after Rudolph's mother and tribe left the village, Rudolph stood silently waiting for his vision to come to past… then suddenly, a long, large, silver pin suddenly appeared from the sky and shot straight down onto Rudolph's village causing a massive explosion. In an instant, the one pin was followed by hundreds more completely annihilating his village. Rudolph watched in horror and couldn't believe that someone was capable to cause such damage and in only a few short minutes, and in no time his entire village was reduced to nothing but a smothering pile of ash. Then slowly a round man was somehow levitating to the ground.  
"Hmm where is it?" The man asked himself, "I could have sworn it was here in this area." Then suddenly, a green chaos energy ball was shot right by his face starling the man. "What the devil!? Who's out there!?" He called.

"Who the hell are you!?" Rudolph called out as he appeared in front of the man. "What the… you're human!?"

"Yes and I can't believe that you're and echidna, let alone a brown echidna. I never thought a brown echidna existed, no matter. Allow me to introduce myself, I am the great and powerful Dr. Robotnik and I'll be taking the key that you have around your neck!" Robotnik shouted as he pointed at the Chaoskey.

"No you won't, what you will receive is sentences to hell were you belong." Rudolph said as he took on a battle stands.  
"Ha! I love it when they try to fight back, all the more rewarding when I rip that key from your neck!" Then Robotnik pushed a button on his control switch and then from out of the sky came a giant metallic flying wasp.

Rudolph marveled at the monster. "So then, that's what a machine looks like."

"Now then, bring me that Chaoskey!!" Robotnik shouted as the wasp charged for Rudolph. Rudolph stood still until the wasp was right in front of him and then he simply jumped over the machine and charged for Robotnik. But the wasp quickly turned around and charged for Rudolph again this time slicing his right arm. Again the wasp charged for Rudolph but using the spurs on his fist, he was able to block the attack and using his strength, he grabbed the machine and threw it into the ground.

Then Rudolph looked up at Robotnik, "Now for you." Rudolph said as he leapt to attack Robotnik but then an instant, the wasp's needle went right through Rudolph's left shoulder holding him in midair. "Argah!!! Rudolph screamed as he was being held by Robotnik's mechanical monster.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here, a filthy echidna that has something that belongs to me?" Robotnik grinned as he reached for the Chaoskey. But right as Rudolph was about to grab his hand, the wasp began sending electricity to Rudolph's shoulder thus shocking him. As soon as the torture was over, Rudolph hung there lifelessly. "Heh heh, oh well, too bad." He said as he took off Rudolph's Chaoskey. "Ok, you can drop him now." And then the wasp titled its head forward and let Rudolph slide off of his stinger. Then both Robotnik and his machine flew off in the distant.  
But though Rudolph was injured, he was still alive and fighting to get back up, "D-damn i-i-it!" Rudolph shouted as he got to his feet. "I'll g-g-get that bastard." Rudolph said as he began to chase after Robotnik.

"I can't believe how easy that was!" Robotnik laughed in his hoverpod. "Too bad that kid had to fight me, I could have spared his life but oh well." Robotnik grinned as he stared at the Chaoskey, "Now… what to do next?" But then suddenly another green chaos ball shot from nowhere and shot down the wasp. Robotnik turned to see where that attack came from to see Rudolph standing several feet away panting. "Err that damn brat, I'll teach you not to mess with Dr. Robotnik!!!" He shouted as he push a button oh his control pad cause the wasp to fly right into the air.

"You won't catch me off guard again!" Rudolph shouted as he lunged himself towards the wasp. Right before the two could collide, Rudolph quickly slid underneath the machine, digging his spurs into the wasp thus slicing open the bottom half. Then as the wasp slid on the ground, Rudolph jumped over the machine and held both his hands forward then a large green energy blast shot straight down destroying the machine. After Rudolph landed he quickly turned his attention to Robotnik. "NOW YOU WILL DIE!!!" Rudolph shouted as he leapt for Robotnik one last time but before he could reach Robotnik, the mad scientist shot a red laser gun from the front end of his hoverpod that pierced Rudolph right through his stomach and out his back. Rudolph landed on the ground breathing very heavily as Robotnik laughed and flew away. 'No…' Rudolph thought, 'I… I must get… the… chaos… key… back… move… damnit…'


	2. Chapter 2

"Dude… man he got fucked up." Came a voice.

"Sonic, that's not funny, he could have died." Came another.

'Who's there?' Rudolph thought. 'Why am I still alive?'

"Man but did you see this guy? Someone was really out to get him, huh bro?"

"It's a good thing we saw that fire in the desert or we would have never found him."

"I wonder what he was doing all the… hey look! Looks like he's waking up."

"Yeah, you're right Sonic!" Slowly Rudolph began to open his eyes to see a blue hedgehog and a yellow fox staring at him. "Hi. Are you o-" but before the fox could finish, Rudolph threw his fist for the two but the very instant he began his attack, the two were already clear across the room.

"Hey!" Called the blue hedgehog wearing ripped blue jeans and a sleeveless blue hoody. Standing next to him was a slightly smaller yellow fox with two tails wearing blue jeans and a sky blue and white striped shirt. "What the hell is your problem!?"

"Who are you and why have you captured me!?" Rudolph yelled as he jumped out of the bed glaring at the two.

"We didn't capture you, you retard!" the hedgehog shouted back.

"Lies!" Rudolph yelled as he threw his fist in an attempt to attack but the two quickly moved out of his way as his fist went right through the wall."

"Gah! He's as strong as Knuckles!" The young kitsune squealed as he took shelter behind the hedgehog.

"Yeah and he's just as stupid too."  
Rudolph pulled his arm out of the wall and glared at the two. "What do you want from me!? Set me free or I will kill you!"

"We don't want anything from you, all we did was save your life!" the blue hedgehog shouted.

"What!?" Rudolph yelled in anger but then remembered his fight with the human from the night before. He looked down to see that his entire torso and both his arms were completely bandaged.

"Yeah," the teenage fox added, "If we hadn't found you when we did, you would have died, although it's incredible that you were even able to survive in your condition."

"Hey!!! What's with all the racket in there!?" Came the voice from just outside the room.

When the door opened, a red echidna wearing brown pants with no shirt on and a sideways crescent on his chest came into the room followed by a lavender cat wearing white pants, a pink t-shirt, a long white vest, and a flame shaped Rudy necklace. "What are you guys doing!?" The red echidna asked filled with anger."What are you guys doing!?" The red echidna asked filled with anger.

"Hey don't blame me!" The hedgehog shouted back. "This guy's the one who's making all the noise!" He shouted as he pointed towards the brown echidna. When everyone turned their attention to Rudolph, they all notice that he was staring at the red echidna.

"Uh…" The red echidna began, "Are you ok?"  
Then at that moment, Rudolph got on his knees and bowed to him. "Fellow tutor, por favor, perdónenme por ser irrespetuoso y grosero." _**Fellow guardian, please forgive me for being so rude and disrespectful.**_

The red echidna stared at the brown echidna and responded, "Fellow tutor? Usted es un tutor también? Pero nunca he visto antes." _**"Fellow guardian? You are a guardian as well? But I've never seen you before."**_

"What are they saying?" The blue hedgehog asked.

"I think they're speaking in echidna tongue." The yellow fox answered.

"Well I can't understand a damn thing they're saying."

"It sounds Mayan." The lavender cat interrupted.

"Really?" The hedgehog asked. "You understand what they're saying?"

"No… they're accent is too deep and thick fore me to understand."

"Así que ... lo que ha sucedido a usted? Cuando nos encontramos, usted se encontraban en forma horrible." _**"So... what happened to you? When we found you, you were in horrible shape."**_ The red echidna asked to Rudolph.

"Un humanos llegaron y atacaron mi aldea. Él destoryed todo." _**"A human came and attacked my village. He destoryed everything."**_

"¿Qué hay de tu pueblo?" _**"What about your people?"**_

"Pudieron escapar." _**"They were able to escape."**_

"Hey!" The blue hedgehog yelled as he interrupted the two echidna's conversation. "I don't mean to be a bother but why don't you two try speaking English so we all can understand ya!?"

"Que es este baffoon azul?" _**"Who is this blue buffoon?"**_

"A… amigo." _**"A… friend."**_

"HEY!!!" The hedgehog shouted again. "Speak… English… You… Dumbasses!"

"Shut up Sonic!" The red echidna shouted. "Anyway, what is your name?"

"My name is Rudolph, sir." Rudolph said as he knelt on his knee.

"Please don't bow to me."

"Wait… what's your name?" The blue hedgehog asked.

"Rudolph."

The hedgehog simply stared at the brown echidna and suddenly began to laugh hysterically. "RUDOLPH!!!? What kind of name is that!?" The hedgehog said as he laughed. But then at that moment, Rudolph threw a punch that knocked Sonic halfway into the opposite walk.

"Gah! Sonic!" The fox yelled as he ran over to his embedded friend.

"Just so you know…" Rudolph began, "If you ever make fun of my name again, I will kill you."

"Ok…" The red echidna began. "My name is Knuckles, the female cat you see standing over there, her name's Blaze. The blue guy who you just punched… his name is Sonic and the kid that ran over to him, his name is Tails" Knuckles said as he introduced everyone.

"Thank you." Rudolph said as he began to take off his bandages, "But now I have to go."

"Wait, where are you going?

"The human stole my Chaoskey, and I need to get it back."

"What's a… Chaoskey?" Sonic asked as he pulled himself from the wall.

"It's a powerful power source that could destroy everyone on this planet."

"Well… was this human really fat, with a bald head, black goggles?"

"Yes." Rudolph answered as he finished taking off his bandages without looking at him.

"Was his name Robotnik?" And in that very moment, Sonic found himself held up against the wall being gripped by his shirt by Rudolph.

"If you know where he is then tell me!"

"We don't know but we're looking for him." Sonic said with a grin.

"Argah! I don't have time for this!" Rudolph shouted as he dropped Sonic.

"Well at least put some clothes on dude! If you didn't notice, all you got on is underwear." Sonic grinned as he pointed at Rudolph.  
Rudolph looked down to see that Sonic was right, "No matter, I must find the Chaoskey."

"Yes but you should at least put something on." Knuckles said. Rudolph stared at Knuckles and sighed. "Very well."

"Yeah and besides," Sonic said as he jumped up with his grin still intact, "We're all going after the same person so he can help each other out."

"Where is a place I can change?" Rudolph asked emotionless to Knuckles.  
Knuckles point to a hallway, "Down the hall, last door on the right. There should be some clothes that could fit you."

"Thank you." Rudolph said as he walked down the hallway.

"Wow," Sonic said as he walked over to Knuckles, "He's just like you with the Master Emerald."

"Yes Sonic," Knuckles said as he began to walk away, "It's called priorities."

"Hmph! Another word for responsibilities, something I try to avoid as much as possible." Sonic said as he turned away.

Sonic, Knuckles and Blaze were standing outside the safe house when Rudolph came walking out wear black sweatpants, a white t-shirt, a long black coat, and white gloves with a socket to put each finger in and to two extra sockets to put his spurs in.

"Woo hoo!" Sonic yelled. "Lookin' pretty snazzy there buddy!"

Rudolph simply stared at the group, "… Thank you for the clothes, and now I must-"

"SONIC!!!" Tails yelled as he ran out of the safe house. "We just got a distress call from the Echidna Kingdom! It's absolutely urgent!"

"Are you serious!?" Knuckles yelled back.

"Yeah! We gotta go!"

Knuckles glared at the ground and then turned to Rudolph. "Rudolph, will you come with us?"

Rudolph instantly stiffened, "What? I can't."

"Come on!" Sonic said as he slapped his back with a grin. "We're all after the same idiot anyway; you might as well join us."

"I said I can't!" Rudolph said as he pushed Sonic's hand off of him.

"You know we could help you track Robotnik so you can find your chaos-thingy."

"I don't need your help. I can sense my Chaoskey from anywhere in the world."

"Fine, go ahead on your own." Sonic said as he walked towards Tails. "Alright bud, let's go."

"Rudolph, I feel as if we could really use your help." Knuckles said to Rudolph in a very serious tone.

Rudolph turned back to Knuckles with a face just a serious, "Do I have your word that I'll be protected?"

"Protected?" Sonic asked as he turned around.

"Yes." Knuckles said.

Rudolph sighed, "Ok, I'll go with you."

"Great!" Sonic grinned, "Now let's get going! Tails, you know the drill."

"Right!" Tails shouted as he pushed a button on his wristwatch. Then the ground a few feet away began to open as a large silver jet with four exerting wings, two on each side that took the form of an X and two incredibly large boosters at the back of the aircraft began to rise from within the gap.

"What is it?" Rudolph asked in awe.

"It's called the X-Tornado!" Tails yelled with pride as he spun his two tails and flew into the cockpit.

"Alright let's get this party started!" Sonic shouted as he jumped onto one of the four wings. Blaze followed Sonic and landed on a wing adjacent from him as Knuckles jumped onto the wing under Sonic.

"Is that how you ride a plane?" Rudolph asked in confusion.

"No, only experienced riders ride my X-Tornado like that." Tails laughed. "Here, you can ride back there." And then a cockpit a few feet behind Tails'. Rudolph leapt onto the craft and eyed to entrance carefully and then sat inside. Then Tails' face appeared on the screen before Rudolph, "Hey there!" He smiled, "Are you all strapped in?" Rudolph nodded as he put on the seatbelt. "Then get ready, since this is you-"

"Hey Tails!" Sonic called. "Let's get a move on will ya!"

"Ok, ok. Here we go!" Tails shouted as the engine fired and the jet took off at high speeds.


	3. Chapter 3

"Sonic." Tails wined from his cockpit. "We've been flying around for hours."

"Yeah." Sonic said as he looked around the desert. "Hey Knuckles!" Sonic shouted over the turbulences.

"What is it!?"

"You think we should take a brake or something!?"

Knuckles looked around as well and noticed a small oasis nearby. "Yeah! Let's go over there!"

"Ok! Tails, did you get that!?"

"Yeah, I'm on it!" Tails said as he prepared for a landing. Then the group jumped off the X-Tornado. "Ok well I think-"

"What the hell are you doing!!!?" Rudolph shouted as he jumped off of the jet. "Why did we stop!!?"

"Just chill dude!" Sonic called with his trademark grin. "We all need a break every now and again." Rudolph glared at Sonic and then tried to take a punch at him only to miss. "You gotta stop underestimating my speed." Sonic grinned. Rudolph glared at him and then walked off into the oasis. "Jezz there's really something wrong with that guy."

"Well while you two were fighting, I was able to grab some firewood." Knuckles called with a handful of sticks.

"Great, hey Tails?" Sonic called to his brother.

"Yeah Sonic?"

"Did you remember to bring my grill and cooking stuff?"

"Yeah you bet. It's in the X-Tornado." Tails called as he ran over to his jet. During this time, Knuckles began setting up the sticks in rows one on top of the other. Once Knuckles was finished, Blaze ignited a small fireball in her hands and lit the camp fire. Then finally, Tails came back with Sonic's portable grill, a pack of frozen vegiburgers and his spatula. Before Tails could even make it to the camp site, Sonic had already took the items out of Tails' hands and set the burgers on the grill over the campfire and began cooking.

"Man I love burgers." Sonic drooled as he flipped a vegiburger on his grill. "Mmmm! I can't wait for these to be finished!"

"Sonic," Tails said softly as he sat next to Sonic, "Rudolph has been gone for quite a while. Do you think something happened to him?"

"He's only been gone a few minutes bud, relax. I bet he's probably just blowing off some steam anyways." Sonic grinned as he flipped over the burgers.

'Damnit!' Rudolph thought as he pushed through a few bushes. 'Mobians, they're all the same, completely selfish.' But then he remembered how both Knuckles and even Sonic stood up to Pachacamac for him. Just this thought alone was enough to slow him down, and he stood there in the bushes staring at the sky. 'Why? Why did they protect me? Why does Knuckles treat me with respect and… why does Sonic even care about me…?' Then Rudolph's thoughts were broken by the sound of a twig snapping. Rudolph quickly snapped back into focus and jumped through the bushes to find a grassy clearing. And then Rudolph felt usual energy, it wasn't strong or aggressive, but rather neutral and peaceful. Rudolph looked towards the source to see a bush shaking slightly, and he knew someone was coming. As he stared at the bush, slowly a young tan female echidna wearing torn traditional tribal clothes and a gold hand band weakly walked into the clearing holding her arm. Once Rudolph saw the female, he couldn't believe his eyes, it was the tribe princess, Tikal.

After Tikal reached the clearing, she looked up to see Rudolph standing there staring directly towards her causing her to stop as well.

"Hello there." Tikal said trying to get the brown echidna's attention.

"Princess…"

"You know me?"

'She doesn't remember me… that's good…' Rudolph thought.

"Are you ok?" Tikal asked getting closer to Rudolph.

Rudolph quickly got down on his knee, "My name is Rudolph princess. I've come to bring you back to your home."

"Really? But I thought-AH!" Tikal screamed she tried to move her arm.

"What's wrong!?" Rudolph asked completely alarmed.

"I… I think my arm is broken." She wined through her pain.

"Here let me help. Please lie down." Tikal nodded then tried her best to lie on her back without using her arm. Rudolph then closed his eyes, placed his hands over Tikal and then began to concentrate. Slowly, the young princess was being covered in a light green dome as she slowly felt all of her wounds begin to heal. After a few minutes, the light died down, and Tikal felt as good as new.

"Thank you! Thank you very much! I feel great, as if I were never injured!" Tikal said with gleam causing Rudolph to smile as well. "So… I'm sorry-"

"It's ok." Rudolph said cutting her off. "My name is Rudolph."

"Rudolph, thank you for healing me. But you said you were sent for me? By who?"

"Well truthfully a group was sent to find you… they're just helping me on my mission." Rudolph said as he looked towards the ground.

"A group? Who?"

"The guardian and his friends, princess."

"You mean Knuckles?"

"Yes."

"That's great. Do you know where they are?" Tikal asked with a smile.

"Yes, they are back that way, about a few miles."

"Oh dear, that could take until sunset." Tikal said getting a little discouraged.

"If we start now, we can make it before then." Rudolph said as he stood up and helped up Tikal. "And don't worry, I'll protect you."

"Thank you, Rudolph." Tikal said with a bright smile.

"Of course princess." Rudolph said as he began to turn away.

"Oh and Rudolph," Tikal said causing him to stop and turn back to her. "You can call me Tikal."

"But it would be informal for me to do so."

"But its ok, any friend of Knuckles and Sonic are friends of mine." Tikal said with a bright smile.

"Ok… Tikal." Rudolph said as he turned around with a smile slowly growing on his face.


	4. Chapter 4

"Sonic." Tails wined from his cockpit. "We've been flying around for hours."

"Yeah." Sonic said as he looked around the desert. "Hey Knuckles!" Sonic shouted over the turbulences.

"What is it!?"

"You think we should take a brake or something!?"

Knuckles looked around as well and noticed a small oasis nearby. "Yeah! Let's go over there!"

"Ok! Tails, did you get that!?"

"Yeah, I'm on it!" Tails said as he prepared for a landing. Then the group jumped off the X-Tornado. "Ok well I think-"

"What the hell are you doing!!!?" Rudolph shouted as he jumped off of the jet. "Why did we stop!!?"

"Just chill dude!" Sonic called with his trademark grin. "We all need a break every now and again." Rudolph glared at Sonic and then tried to take a punch at him only to miss. "You gotta stop underestimating my speed." Sonic grinned. Rudolph glared at him and then walked off into the oasis. "Jezz there's really something wrong with that guy."

"Well while you two were fighting, I was able to grab some firewood." Knuckles called with a handful of sticks.

"Great, hey Tails?" Sonic called to his brother.

"Yeah Sonic?"

"Did you remember to bring my grill and cooking stuff?"

"Yeah you bet. It's in the X-Tornado." Tails called as he ran over to his jet. During this time, Knuckles began setting up the sticks in rows one on top of the other. Once Knuckles was finished, Blaze ignited a small fireball in her hands and lit the camp fire. Then finally, Tails came back with Sonic's portable grill, a pack of frozen vegiburgers and his spatula. Before Tails could even make it to the camp site, Sonic had already took the items out of Tails' hands and set the burgers on the grill over the campfire and began cooking.

"Man I love burgers." Sonic drooled as he flipped a vegiburger on his grill. "Mmmm! I can't wait for these to be finished!"

"Sonic," Tails said softly as he sat next to Sonic, "Rudolph has been gone for quite a while. Do you think something happened to him?"

"He's only been gone a few minutes bud, relax. I bet he's probably just blowing off some steam anyways." Sonic grinned as he flipped over the burgers.

'Damnit!' Rudolph thought as he pushed through a few bushes. 'Mobians, they're all the same, completely selfish.' But then he remembered how both Knuckles and even Sonic stood up to Pachacamac for him. Just this thought alone was enough to slow him down, and he stood there in the bushes staring at the sky. 'Why? Why did they protect me? Why does Knuckles treat me with respect and… why does Sonic even care about me…?' Then Rudolph's thoughts were broken by the sound of a twig snapping. Rudolph quickly snapped back into focus and jumped through the bushes to find a grassy clearing. And then Rudolph felt usual energy, it wasn't strong or aggressive, but rather neutral and peaceful. Rudolph looked towards the source to see a bush shaking slightly, and he knew someone was coming. As he stared at the bush, slowly a young tan female echidna wearing torn traditional tribal clothes and a gold hand band weakly walked into the clearing holding her arm. Once Rudolph saw the female, he couldn't believe his eyes, it was the tribe princess, Tikal.

After Tikal reached the clearing, she looked up to see Rudolph standing there staring directly towards her causing her to stop as well.

"Hello there." Tikal said trying to get the brown echidna's attention.

"Princess…"

"You know me?"

'She doesn't remember me… that's good…' Rudolph thought.

"Are you ok?" Tikal asked getting closer to Rudolph.

Rudolph quickly got down on his knee, "My name is Rudolph princess. I've come to bring you back to your home."

"Really? But I thought-AH!" Tikal screamed she tried to move her arm.

"What's wrong!?" Rudolph asked completely alarmed.

"I… I think my arm is broken." She wined through her pain.

"Here let me help. Please lie down." Tikal nodded then tried her best to lie on her back without using her arm. Rudolph then closed his eyes, placed his hands over Tikal and then began to concentrate. Slowly, the young princess was being covered in a light green dome as she slowly felt all of her wounds begin to heal. After a few minutes, the light died down, and Tikal felt as good as new.

"Thank you! Thank you very much! I feel great, as if I were never injured!" Tikal said with gleam causing Rudolph to smile as well. "So… I'm sorry-"

"It's ok." Rudolph said cutting her off. "My name is Rudolph."

"Rudolph, thank you for healing me. But you said you were sent for me? By who?"

"Well truthfully a group was sent to find you… they're just helping me on my mission." Rudolph said as he looked towards the ground.

"A group? Who?"

"The guardian and his friends, princess."

"You mean Knuckles?"

"Yes."

"That's great. Do you know where they are?" Tikal asked with a smile.

"Yes, they are back that way, about a few miles."

"Oh dear, that could take until sunset." Tikal said getting a little discouraged.

"If we start now, we can make it before then." Rudolph said as he stood up and helped up Tikal. "And don't worry, I'll protect you."

"Thank you, Rudolph." Tikal said with a bright smile.

"Of course princess." Rudolph said as he began to turn away.

"Oh and Rudolph," Tikal said causing him to stop and turn back to her. "You can call me Tikal."

"But it would be informal for me to do so."

"But its ok, any friend of Knuckles and Sonic are friends of mine." Tikal said with a bright smile.

"Ok… Tikal." Rudolph said as he turned around with a smile slowly growing on his face.


	5. Chapter 5

"Sonic," Tails called to his brother who was still cooking more burgers. "Rudolph has been gone for three hours. I think something happened to him."

"I doubt it." Sonic said without even looking at Tails. "I bet he just left, that's all."

"More than likely." Knuckles said as he stared at the campfire, "He was really concerned about this Chaoskey. And being its guardian, it's his number one priority."

"Hey Knux," Sonic called, "What's the Chaoskey anyway? Is it like the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Too be honest, I don't even know." Knuckles sighed.

Then Blaze's ears began to twitch, "What's wrong Blaze?" Sonic asked.

"Someone's coming." She said getting into a battle stands.

Knuckles stood up with Blaze "Yeah, I sense them... wait a second." Then out of the bushes came Rudolph followed by Tikal. "T-Tikal!" Knuckles called out in disbelief.  
Tikal smiled as she waved to the others, "Hello Knuckles! Sonic, Tails!" Then Tikal ran over to her friends.

"Wow! This is amazing! It's really Tikal!" Tails called.

"Yeah you're right bud." Sonic grinned.

As Tikal walked over to the group, she couldn't help but notice Blaze, "Oh hello there, my name is Tikal."

Blaze bowed her head, "Hello princess, my name is Blaze."

"Hey Blaze, chill out." Sonic said as he placed his arm around her, "She's like you, you can call her by her first name, she doesn't mind."  
"Yes be that as it may, how is it that you were able to escape Robotnik?" Blaze asked as she turned to Tikal.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about him." Sonic said.

"What do you mean, you forgot?" Tails asked in awe. "That was the whole reason we came out here in the first place."

"Jezz, give me a break." Sonic sighed then he turned to Rudolph and noticed that as he was looking at Tikal, he was… smiling. Sonic soon after, zipped over to Rudolph, "So that's the reason you left in such a hurry." Sonic said with a smirk, "You went to find Tikal didn't you?" Rudolph's facial expression instantly changed as he glared at Sonic. "Ya like her don'cha? I knew there was something there." Sonic grinned as he began to lean on his shoulder. But then Rudolph pulled himself from under Sonic and walked back into the brush of the oasis.  
Everyone saw Rudolph leave and Blaze quickly dared her eyes back at Sonic. "What… did you do?"

"What!?" Sonic yelped jumping back a little, "All I said is that he went to look for Tikal and found her, that's all! I swear!" Blaze kept her glare up and Sonic knew he had to break the tension somehow. "So Tikal! How did you get away from Egghead again?"

Tikal sat down and stared at the fire, "Well it all started when I was out planting flowers by the trees and then out of nowhere, he came and grabbed me with some type of bird-like machine and carried me off. But once I was too far to see my home, my dress began to rip where the machine had grabbed me and soon I fell. I blacked out before I hit the ground and when I awoke, I was in the middle of this oasis with my arm broken and I've been walking around and trying to find help ever since."

"Wait, you said that your arm was broken." Knuckles said as he looked at Tikal closely.  
Tikal smiled, "Oh yes! When Rudolph found me, he offered to heal my body and then showed me the way back here."

"Really now?" Sonic asked with his smirk returning.

"Oh yes. He was so polite and gentleman-like, he even offered to carry me just to make sure I didn't over exert myself." Then Tikal turned to Knuckles. "Knuckles, if he was sent to find me, does that mean that our laws have finally changed?"

Knuckles smile quickly turned into a frown, "No Tikal… I'm sorry… but your father is… well… to change his mind is… impossible."

Tikal's mood died with Knuckles' "Oh I see…"

Sonic then stood up getting everyone's attention, "Ok, will someone please tell what the big deal is with-"

~BOOM!!!!~

"AHHH!!!!" everyone shouted after the explosion.

"What the hell was that!?" Sonic shouted then at that moment, several explosions began to erupt causing a panic.

"It's coming from that direction!" Blaze shouted as she pointed towards the source of the explosions.

"Isn't that where Rudolph went off to!?" Tails shouted. "Sonic! What did you do to get him so angry!?"

"Nothing!" Sonic shouted over the explosions. "Come on! Let's see what he's doing!"

Then Sonic ran off leaving everyone else to follow. The group ran through the bushes and after they reached another grassy plain, they all saw two figures off in the distant, with one holding the other by his throat. As they looked closer, the one who was being choked was Rudolph while the other was holding him up was a black hedgehog wearing pitched black pants and a black cloak. "Is that Shadow?" Sonic asked himself. Then Rudolph suddenly punched Shadow in his left temple causing him to tumble back as he let go of Rudolph allowing him to land on his feet. Shadow quickly stood up and glared at Rudolph but before either one could make a move, Shadow was put in a Full Nelson by Sonic as Rudolph likewise by Knuckles.

"Err!" Shadow sounded as he turned to see a grinning Sonic. "Sonic? What are you doing?"

"Just chill out buddy, and let me explain."

"What the hell!?" Rudolph shouted until he turned to see Knuckles. "Knuckles!? Let go of me!"

"Calm down Rudolph! You need to relax!" Then slowly both Sonic and Knuckles began to let go of the two and they instantly glared at each other.

"Ok." Sonic began as he folded his arms and began tapping his foot, "Either of you two mind tellin' us what's going on?"

Rudolph turned to Sonic, "While I was out here, I saw this guy standing out here and when I asked him to identify himself, he tried to walk off. So in order to keep him from escaping I jumped in front of him and then he threatened me so I tried to subdue him." Rudolph said as he pointed at Shadow.

"Yeah I can defiantly believe that one." Sonic said with a sigh.

"Rudolph," Tails began, "This is Shadow. He's another one of our friends."

"What?" Rudolph asked in disbelief.

"Yes he is, but what were you doing out here anyway, Shadow." Blaze asked as she walked up to the black hedgehog.

"GUN received a distress signal from Rouge and I'm out here to find her."

"Distress signal?" Tails questioned.

"Yes."

"What was she doing all the way out here?" Sonic asked.

"Probably trying to steal from someone." Knuckles said blankly.

"No, she was on a mission." Shadow answered.

"What kind of mission?" Tails asked.

"She was sent to find Robotnik and see what he is planning. I was on her trail until I ran into this idiot and he threw me off." Rudolph simply glared at Shadow and before he could make a move, he was again stopped by Knuckles grabbing his shoulder. "Anyway, what are you doing out here?" Shadow questioned.

Sonic grinned as he said, "We're here to find Egghead too. You wanna come wit?"

"Why? You would only slow me down." Shadow said as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Heh slow YOU down? Don't forget who the fastest guy on this planet."

"Guys," Tails interrupted. "It's getting dark, I think we should head back to the camp site."

"Yeah I guess your right bud." Sonic said as he turned to Tails. "So you coming or what Shadow?" Shadow didn't say a word.

"Shadow?" Blaze asked with a serious voice. Shadow then looked up and nodded.

"Good, let's head back. We need to ensure Tikal's safety." Blaze said as she began to turn away.

"Yeah I guess you're right." Sonic grinned as he looked over to Tikal. "Come on Tikal, let's get you something to eat."

Tikal couldn't help but smile, "Thank you Sonic."

Sonic gave a thumbs up and grinned then looked over to Rudolph, "Hey Rudy." Rudolph looked over to Sonic, "Yeah you. You comin' or do we have to drag you?" Rudolph simply just walked passed Sonic and followed Tikal back to the camp site.

After everyone finished eating, Sonic and Tails quickly pulled out sleeping bags for everyone while Blaze dimed the campfire. But as Sonic looked over to Rudolph, he saw that he was sitting Indian style and his arms folded a few feet away from the campsite.

"Hey Rudy!" Sonic called but he didn't flinch. "Rudy!" Nothing. 'Ok.' Sonic thought as he picked up a small pebble and tossed it over at Rudolph. But before the pebble touched Rudolph, it disintegrated in a green light. Sonic was in complete awe as he tossed another one only for the same effect to happen again. "Cool!"

"What are you doing?" Knuckles asked from behind Sonic.  
Sonic turned around with a huge smirk. "Did you see that?" Sonic said as he picked up a pebble and repeated the same process. "Isn't that awesome!?"

"It's called a Chaos Reflect Barrier. It's what we guardians do when we sleep in an unsafe area. It's used to protect us from outside attackers."

"Well that's awesome." Sonic grinned as he went to pick up another pebble but was stopped by Knuckles standing in front of him with a serious face. "Hey get out of the way."

"Sonic stop bothering him. I'm pretty sure he's been through enough already so he doesn't need you making his life any worse."

"What do you mean worse?" Sonic asked as he put down the pebble.

"We're from different tribes. Because of that… some echidnas dislike others because of our different looks, ideas, and values."

"Wow… I didn't know. That explains the old man's attitude to him." Sonic said as he though back to the beginning of the day.

"Yeah, but you know you need to get some sleep. I've seen you sleep walk before… well sleep run anyway, and it's not pretty."

"Har-har." Sonic said sarcastically as Knuckles walked passed him and went to lie in his sleeping bag. Sonic turned to Rudolph and lied down and went to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

That morning, Sonic and his friends woke up, and began making breakfast.

"Hmmm." Sonic said as he smelled his pancakes.

"Hey Sonic," Tails called to Sonic. "How are we even going to find Robotnik in the first place?"

"Uh… I don't know?" Sonic said as he stared into space.

"Wait that means yesterday we were flying around doing nothing!?" Knuckles yelled.

Sonic scratched the back of his head, "Yeah…" Then Knuckles picked up a tree and began to chase Sonic around the campsite leaving everyone either staring or laughing.

"Well if you two could sit still," Blaze spoke softly, "I have an idea."

Sonic and Knuckles instantly stopped and turned to Blaze, "Really? Do tell." Sonic asked as he sat down next to her.

"Well we first found Tikal here in this oasis because Robotnik dropped her here. Then we find Shadow in this same area following Rouge's last coordinates as she was tracking Robotnik. I think that if we search the area, we might be able to find some clues as too his whereabouts."

After Blaze spoke her idea she received a few cheers from the group.

"Yeah, nice! I love this woman!" Sonic grinned as he kissed Blaze causing her to smile.

"Ok," Knuckles said as he stood up, "Now that we have a plan, we might as well spilt into groups so we can cover the area faster."

"Heh, if you want it done fast, I should handle it by myself." Sonic grinned.

"Don't make me laugh," Shadow grinned, "You're too stupid to notice anything while you run, you're pretty much useless."

"Heh, this comin' from a hog who got beat by yours truly, right." Sonic grinned as he rolled his eyes causing Shadow to get up and glare at Sonic in which caused the same effect on Sonic.

"Please, can we stop arguing?" Tikal wined as she pulled on Sonic's arm.

"Sure. Well if were gonna split up, who's gonna be with who?"

"Hmm…" Tails said as he rubbed his chin, "Well there are an old number of us so if we split into twos, on team is going to have three instead."

"So?" Sonic grinned.

"Not necessarily." Blaze said quietly.

"Whadda mean?" Sonic asked.

"Rudolph left so there are six of us instead of seven." After she said this, everyone began to look around for the brown echidna.

"Wow he sure is quite." Tails said.

"I say let him go." Sonic said causing everyone to stare at him. "Whoa, whoa wait a minute! Not like that! Didn't you guys notice that every time he goes out on his own he finds someone?" Sonic asked as he began counting on his fingers. "The first time he found Tikal and healed her, right? And the second time he ran in Shadow, maybe this time he'll run into Rouge and Robotnik and kill two birds with one stone."

"But what if he doesn't come back?" Tikal asked.

Sonic turned to her with a grin, "Something tells me that as long as you're with us, he'll be back." Leaving Tikal very confused by what he meant.

"Speaking of Tikal," Blaze said as she walked over to Sonic. "We need to make sure that she's safe at all times."

"Sure. "Sonic grinned.

"So I think you should stay with her."

Sonic grinned over to Tikal, "Ya mind Tikal?"

Tikal couldn't help but smile. "Of course not."

"Ok! So who else?"

"I'll go with Tails." Knuckles grinned as looked over to Tails.

"Yeah why not." Tails smiled back.

"Ok then," Knuckles said as he turned to Blaze. "I guess that leaves you and Shadow huh?"

"I can deal with it." Shadow said as he began to walk away.

Blaze just stared at Shadow until she felt Sonic's hand on her waist. "Hey Blaze, don't let Shadow's attitude get to you." Sonic grinned. Blaze just smiled, and then walked off to catch up with Shadow. "Ok! So everyone else ready?" Everyone nodded, "Then let's move out!" Sonic shouted with everyone running in their separate directions.

"Sonic?" Tikal called.

"Yeah?"

"We've been searching for clues for hours and we haven't found a thing." Tikal said in a frail voice.

"Hey cheer up!" Sonic smiled. "If anything, the good news is that we now know that

Robotnik isn't here looking for you meaning you're safe."

"Yes, that is good news." Tikal said with a smile.

"And besides, we don't know if the others have anything or not." Then suddenly Sonic's phone began to ring, "Yo?"

"Hey Sonic," Tails called from the other end. "Did you find anything?"

"Naw not a single thing." Sonic sighed. "You?"

"Nothing either. But we're back at the campsite making dinner so you can come back when you want."

"Sure, we'll be back in a flash." Sonic grinned.

"Oh and could you find Shadow and Blaze? We've tried calling them but their cell phones were off right now and-"

"Don't sweat it buddy! We'll find them. See ya later." Then Sonic hung up his phone.

"So Tikal, you ready to head back?"

"Yes." She said quietly as she nodded.

"Cool, then all we have to do is find Blaze and Shadow and we can get out of here."

"Can we ask Rudolph to come with us?"

"Sure, if we knew where he was. He's been gone all day." Sonic sighed.

"I know where he is."

"Really?" Sonic asked in disbelief.

"Yes." Tikal nodded, then began walking leaving Sonic to follow. "He's close, I sense his Chaos energy."

"Why is it that echidnas can feel energy?"

"We are closely tied to the power of Chaos, Sonic. All echidnas of royal birth can use the Chaos Force at will."

"If only echidnas have the ability to use Chaos energy, then why can Tails, Shadow, me can use it too?" Sonic asked.

"Well, Tails is the Chosen One. He alone outside the echidna race is powerful enough to use the Chaos Force anytime he wants once he unlocks his potential. Now I'm not sure about Shadow but I know you've gained your ability due to your constant transformations into your Super Sonic form."

"Heh, that explains a lot." Sonic grinned but then he saw Tikal stop causing him to stop as well. "Hey what's up?"

Tikal turned around with a smile, "He's right over there." Then she moved a few branches and Sonic saw Rudolph standing a few meters away on a cliffside staring at sunset.

Tikal followed by Sonic walked over to him, "Hello Rudolph." Tikal smiled.

Rudolph turned to see Tikal and let a small smile appear on his face before it left as he turned away. "Hello Tikal." He spoke quietly.

"Hey buddy!" Sonic called. "What are you doing way out here? I thought you would've left by now."

"Believe me, I would have… but I need to ensure Tikal's safety. But my Chaoskey… it's that way… I know it."

"Well then that means that Egghead's that way." Sonic grinned, "First thing tomorrow, we'll drop off Tikal and then we'll track down Robotnik. Sounds good to you Rudy?"  
Rudolph turned to Sonic and Tikal with a grin, "That's a plan that I can agree with."

"Ha now that's what I'm talking about!" Sonic grinned. "Come on, its time to head back."

"Go ahead with out me." Rudolph said as he turned back to the sunset.

"Are you sure?" Sonic asked as he stared at Rudolph.

"Yeah, I like being alone."

"Ok then." Then Sonic picked up Tikal and sped towards the campsite leaving Rudolph to stare into the scenery.

"Hey Sonic!" Tails called to the blue blur as he and Tikal sped to a stop at the campsite.

"Hey bro, what smells so good?" Sonic asked as he placed Tikal down.

"Chilidogs!!!"

"Alright!" Sonic shouted as he sat next to Tails with his mouth drooling.

"Ah… Sonic… where's Blaze and Shadow." Tails asked as he looked around.

"Uh oh… damn it. I knew I forgot something."

"Well until you get them, you don't eat." Tails said as he pushed Sonic aside.

"Aww come on buddy!" Sonic pleaded.

"Nope. Not a chance." Tails grinned.

"Fine." Sonic pouted. "But if I can't find them in like 5 minutes, I'm eating even if I gotta beat you to a pulp."

"Sonic!" Tikal pleaded. "No fighting, ok?"

"Hey Tikal you know I was only joking. See ya!" Sonic grinned as he took off.

'Damnit!' Sonic thought as he ran though the oasis. 'I need to find those two before my food gets cold.' And as Sonic ran through the oasis, he heard giggling from a distant, 'Huh? That sounds like Blaze.' Sonic thought as he turned to run to the direction of the sound. After a second, Sonic finally found Blaze and Shadow standing in a small clearing talking to one another. Sonic stopped a few meters away and began to tip-toe to keep from Blaze's hearing range. 'What are those two doing?' Sonic asked himself. But then, he heard Blaze begin to laugh and lean on Shadow's shoulder, 'What the hell!!?' Sonic thought to himself as he jumped out of the bushes causing the two to turn around.

"Hello Sonic." Blaze called to the blue hedgehog.

"Blaze… Tails says its time to eat." Then Sonic glared at Shadow, "You can come if you want faker."

"What was that?" Shadow asked as he returned the glare.

"You heard me." Sonic said as he pulled Blaze close to him.

"Whatever." Shadow grunted as he turned to walk back to the campsite.

Blaze removed Sonic's hand as she glared at him, "Sonic, what's wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked dumbfounded.

"Why did you insult Shadow?"

"Insult Shadow?"

"Never mind." Blaze sighed as she turned to follow Shadow leaving Sonic to follow the two.

"Hey!" Tails called. "It's about time you guys got back!"

Shadow walked past the campfire and leaned himself against a tree while Sonic and Blaze sat down across from one another. "Hey bud." Sonic said sounding a little down.

"Are you ok?" Tails asked sensing his mood.

"Yeah I'm fine." Sonic said without turning to him. "So… can I eat now?"

"Uh yeah… sure." Tails said as he handed Sonic a chilidog. But before Sonic could take a bite, he felt the ground shaking a bit. "What the…?" The ground began to shake again, and then again in a rapid session.

"Ah!" Tikal screamed. "What's going on!?"

"I think it's an earthquake!" Tails screamed. Then suddenly, the group heard a roar come from the deep part of the oasis. "Uh oh."

"That doesn't sound like an earthquake!" Sonic said as the group turned to the direction of the noise. Then suddenly, a giant purple, mechanical ape jumped into the campsite causing everyone to jump up in terror. "Whoa!!! Holy hell!!!"

"What the fuck is that!?" Knuckles shouted as everyone took a few steps back.

"Who sent this thing?" Shadow grunted.

"Isn't obvious?" Sonic asked as he pointed that the Robotnik insignia on the ape's chest.

"So what are we going to do?" Tails asked.

"What we do best, kick some ass!" Sonic shouted as he jumped for the ape. But the robot quickly swatted Sonic away like a fly sending Sonic through a row of trees.

"Sonic!" Tikal shouted.

"I'm fine." Sonic asked as he pushed a log off of himself.

Shadow turned to Sonic, "Are you done making a fool of yourself?"

"Kiss my ass." Sonic replied as he ran at top speed toward the mechanical ape. Once he was close enough, Sonic curled up into a spindash and tripped the robot leaving him wide open for Knuckles to uppercut the ape knocking it on its back. But then the chest plate on the ape opened shooting many missiles in the air, then the missiles began to fall from the sky.  
"Everyone!" Tails called. "Under the X-Tornado!" Then the jet began to project a force field around itself with everyone under it.

"Whew!" Sonic sighed. "That was a close one."

"Wait a second…" Knuckles began, "Tikal!!!" Everyone turned out to the clearing to see Tikal still standing in her spot, frozen in fear. "Tikal! You have to move!" Knuckles cried but Tikal still stood there in fright with the missiles closing in on her.

"TIKAL!!!" everyone cried out as the missiles shot down and blew up all around her.

"No… damnit!" Sonic shouted as he slammed his fist into the ground.

"Wait." Knuckles said causing everyone to look at him, "I can still sense Tikal. She's still alive."

"What?" Then everyone turned to the smoke and slowly watched the smoke clear reliving Tikal perfectly unharmed but covered in a green force field.

"She's alive!" Tails shouted. But then the robot suddenly jumped back onto its feet and lunged itself at Tikal. Tikal screamed as she closed her eyes but then, Rudolph jumped out of the oasis and into the path of the robotic ape resulting in the ape grabbing him instead. The ape brought Rudolph to its face, then tossed him through an array of trees and then turned back to Tikal. This time, Tikal attempted to run but the robot quickly jumped in front of her.

"Alright!" Shadow shouted, "Let's go before she gets hurt!"

"I'm on it!" Sonic yelled as he dashed for Tikal but before he could get close, the ape near instantly turned around and smacked Sonic sending him tumbling as the ape attempted to take Tikal hostage again. But before the metallic ape could grab her, Rudolph again jumped in the way of the attack. The ape then began crushing Rudolph causing him to shout in pain before he was slammed a few feet into the ground.

"Ok that does it!" Sonic shouted as he ran towards the robotic ape, "Knuckles!"

"Got it!" Knuckles yelled as he and Shadow ran behind Sonic. Sonic then jumped into the air and rammed the robot causing him to let go of Rudolph, then Shadow ran behind the ape and kicked him skyward and then Knuckles grabbed Sonic and threw him towards the midair mechanical ape and Sonic spindashed right through the machine and before it could fall, Sonic charged and launched his Light Attack completely obliterating the robot. As Sonic landed, the group crowded around Tikal.

"Tikal! Are you alright!" Knuckles asked as he helped her to her feet.

"Yes I'm fine but what about Rudolph?" She asked as she looked towards his creator. When everyone looked to Rudolph, they saw him slowly pulling himself out of the creator and when he turned to the group, he hardly looked damaged in the least.

"Whoa dude!" Sonic cooed, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, but is Tikal alright?" Rudolph asked as he walked over to the group as brushed the dirt off of his coat.

"She's perfectly fine, thanks to you." Knuckles grinned.

"Now that Robotnik knows where we are, we can't stay here much longer." Blaze said as she looked around.

"Yeah but the X-Tornado will need some time to recharge after using its shield." Tails said as he looked at his jet.

"So we'll have to spend the night here?" Sonic asked.

"It's seems so." Blaze replied.

"But what if Robotnik attacks us while we're trying to sleep?" Tails asked.

"Don't worry." Rudolph said cutting in. "I can watch over everyone tonight to unsure your safety."

"Really?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, but we leave first thing tomorrow morning, understand?" Rudolph asked with everyone nodding.


	7. Chapter 7

Rudolph stared peacefully into the bright moon that illuminated the night sky. He felt a soft yet cool breeze upon his face and a small smile began to form. "Finally." Rudolph sighed.

"Peace and quiet." As the small breeze tickled his face, he began to hear footsteps from behind. As he turned to the direction of the sound of the footsteps, he saw none other but Tikal.

"Tikal, are you ok?"

"I'm fine." She said as she sat down next to him.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Rudolph questioned with worry.

Tikal turned to him with a smile. "I couldn't sleep. If I'm bothering you-"

"No, no, not at all. I was just concern, that's all." Rudolph said as he motioned her to stay seated.

All stayed quite between the two as they stared at the moonlit sky until, "Rudolph?" Tikal asked catching his attention. "I never did say thank you, did I." Tikal asked as her head began to droop.

"There's no need. I was just doing what is right." Rudolph responded simply.

"Knuckles told me about why you're doing this." Tikal said quietly causing Rudolph to turn to her. "He told me how you wish to bring me back to repent for coming to my kingdom. I just want to apologize for how my people have treated you." Tikal said as she brought her knees to her chest and began to hug them. "I just wish I could change the way my people see things in life… and the way they treat others… to show them that we're all the same."

Rudolph turned to Tikal with a look of despair in his eyes, "Please don't apologize for others. It's not fair for you to put the weight of others upon yourself. And either way… I'm used to it." Rudolph said quietly as he turned away.

"NO!" Tikal said with tears in her eyes. "No one should be treated like… like…"

"A monster." Rudolph finished.

Tikal turned back to the moon, "At least you have your village. A place where you can be safe from harm. Where you have the warmth of others who care for you."

"They hate me too, princess." Rudolph said quietly causing Tikal to look back at him.

"But… but why?"

"Just look at me." Rudolph said as he took off his glove and held his brown hand up to his face. "I'm the only brown echidna in the entire world, I stand out everywhere, and I fit in nowhere. I have no place in society, neither yours nor mine." Rudolph said as his hand formed into a fist.

Tears soon began to fall down Tikal face as she looked at Rudolph in disbelief.

"Rudolph… I…"

"Don't worry about me, Tikal." Rudolph said as he turned to Tikal, "I'm more concern about your safety than my feelings."

"Rudolph, why is it that you threw yourself in harm's way for me?"

"I…" Rudolph stared in Tikal's eyes, even he didn't know why, but it was an old feeling that pulled him towards her. "I… just wanted to protect you."

"Rudolph…" Tikal whispered as the two stared into each others eyes.

"Princess…" Rudolph whispered.

Tikal said as a smile formed on her face. "You can call me Tikal, Rudolph."

"I'm sorry." Rudolph said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small handkerchief and gently began to wipe the tears from Tikal's eyes. "You really should try to at least get some sleep. I don't want you to be tired for our journey tomorrow."

Tikal's smile widened as she looked at Rudolph, "Ok, I'll try." Then she stood up and placed her hand on his shoulder and kissed his cheek causing him to blush a full-blown crimson red. "Thank you again." Then she walked back to her sleeping bag and began to fall asleep.  
As Rudolph took his ungloved hand and placed it to his cheek, he began to feel warmth flow throughout his body. 'I can't believe it.' Rudolph thought with a smile. 'She's exactly like I remember.'

_**Flashback  
**_

"So this is where my dad goes. I always wondered why he always tells me to never come with him." The young brown echidna said to himself as he stood outside the Echidna Kingdom.

"Hmm. Now how am I gonna get inside?" Then he looked to his left a saw a small hole under the wall, "That's the way!" the young boy shouted with joy as he quickly dug himself under the wall and out the other side to see the amazing golden brown kingdom that lay before him. "Wow!" He said as he looked around at the people and buildings. "The people here seem friendly, not like my people. I don't know why dad told me to stay away from this place."

"Hey you!!!" Came a voice. The brown echidna turned to see four tan teenage echidnas that were glaring over to the young boy. "What the fuck are you doing here!? Don't you know you don't belong here!?"

The brown echidna took a few steps back as he stuttered, "I-I-I'm here to find m-m-my dad."

"Find your dad!? Ha!" The first echidna laughed.

"I say we help him find something else." The second echidna grinned as the slammed his fist together,

"So how about it kid?" the third echidna grinned. "Wanna have a little fun?"

The brown echidna took a few steps back and tried to turn and run but the forth echidna was already behind him. "What's your rush kid?" He laughed as he pushed him to the ground. The young boy look up terrified as the four echidnas crowded around him and began stomping and kicking him.

'NO!' Rudolph screamed in his head. 'Why!? Why does everyone hate me?'

"STOP!!!" Someone shouted causing the group to turn to a small, young, tan, female echidna. "Stop attacking him! He did nothing wrong!"

"Nothing wrong!" the first echidna shouted.

"This filthy Southern Tribe trash shouldn't be here in the first place!" the second echidna yelled.

"He is NOT trash!" The young girl yelled. "He is an echidna just like us!"

"Like US!?" the third echidna shouted. "He is nothing like us! You of all people should know that princess!"

"Leave him be, or I'll tell my father." The girl threatened causing the boys to flinch.

"You-you wouldn't, right princess?" the forth echidna pleaded.

"Leave him be." The girl said quietly.

The four echidna boys looked at each other then walked away.

The young girl watched the boys walk away, then turned her attention to the curled up brown echidna who was still shaking from his previous encounter. She slowly walked up to the boy and knelt down next to him. "Excuse me." She said quietly as she tapped his shoulder. His body quickly tightened as he felt her hand but she didn't move away. "Don't worry," she said in a quiet and soft voice, "I won't hurt you." He slowly began to show his face to her and she began to smile. "Hi there, I'm sorry for all the trouble they caused you and although you don't seem too damaged, I think we should get those wounds bandaged up."

The young boy slowly unclenched his body as he stared at her. "O… ok." He stuttered.

"Here," she said as she offered her hand, "Let me help you up." The boy stared at her hand, then at her smiling face. Then slowly, he reached for her hand and the two began walking. "Oh yes, I almost forgot." The young girl said causing the boy to look over to her, "My name is Tikal, what's yours?" she asked with a smile.

The young boy began staring towards the ground, "My name… my name is Rudolph."

"Like the reindeer from the old stories?" Tikal asked.

"Yeah… I bet you think it's stupid, don't you?" he asked as a frown appeared on his face.

Tikal stared at him with confusion, "No, I think it's a cute name." she said with a smile causing Rudolph to look up at her with disbelief, but seeing her smile caused a small smile to form on his face as well. Soon the two reached a small house and Tikal opened the door and turned back to Rudolph who just stood there, staring at the door. Tikal walked over to Rudolph and took him by the hand and led him inside the house. "Grandma." Tikal called over to an elderly female echidna sitting in a chair.

"Hello Tikal," she called happily as she hugged Tikal, "How's my favorite granddaughter?"

"I'm fine, but my friend here isn't." she said as the two turned to Rudolph who was still standing by the door.

"Well hello dear." Tikal's grandmother called over to Rudolph, "What's wrong?"

"He was attacked by other echidna's grandma." Tikal stated causing Rudolph to look at the ground

"He was? Well come on over here." The elderly echidna called with Rudolph slowly walking over to her. After a few minutes, Rudolph's wounds were perfectly wrapped and he was ready to go.

"Thank you." Rudolph said as he bowed his head.

"Do not worry about it, dear." Tikal's grandmother smiled.

"Grandma." Tikal called. "Is it ok if Rudolph and I go over to the flower fields?"

"Sure." She smiled.

"Thank you!" Tikal yelled with gee as she grabbed Rudolph and the two began to walk out of the house.

"Have fun you two!" Tikal's grandmother called after them.  
Soon both Tikal and Rudolph came across a wide field full of flowers of many different kinds, shapes, and colors. Tikal stared into the field, then turned to Rudolph, "Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?"

"No, not ever." Rudolph said to Tikal with a smile.

"Do you want to go down there?"

"A-are we allowed?" Rudolph asked.

"Of course silly! Didn't you hear my grandma?" Tikal laughed as she grabbed his arm and ran down into the field. The two spent hours in the field talking, laughing, and staring at the clouds, having fun as time flew by.

"Uh… Tikal…" Rudolph called over to Tikal.

"Yes?" Tikal asked as she turned to Rudolph.

"Here… I picked these out for you." Rudolph said as he handed Tikal seven different color flowers of; red, yellow, blue, green, white, cyan, and purple.

Tikal took the flowers from Rudolph with a smile and kissed Rudolph on the cheek causing Rudolph to blush and scratch his head in a grin. "I love them, thank you Rudolph."

"You're welcome." Then Rudolph looked up at the evening sky, "It's getting dark," he said as he turned to Tikal. "I should get home before my mother begins to worry about me."

"Will I ever see you again?" Tikal asked.

"Yeah."

"You promise?"

Rudolph stared at Tikal with a smile, "Yeah, I give you my word as an echidna that I'll come and find you again."

Tikal couldn't help but smile. "Ok good-bye Rudolph." She said as she turned away and ran back to her kingdom.

"Good-bye Tikal!" Rudolph called after her.

"And don't forget!" Tikal called as she turned around. "You promised!"

"I know! I won't forget!"

_**Flashback End**_

'That was eleven years ago,' Rudolph thought as he stared into the night sky, 'And I never forgot my promise… and I've fulfilled that promise. Now I must bring her home safe and sound. But… the kingdom is miles away… and now that Robotnik knows where we are,' Rudolph thought as he turned his attention to the sleeping Tikal, 'He'll come for her, I know it. We need to find a safe place to hide her… at least until it's all over.' Rudolph thought as he turned back to the sky until his eyes widened. 'Wait… why is Robotnik looking for Tikal in the first place!? Could he…? No. There's no way he could know of the Chaoskey's true power… could he!?' Then Rudolph slowly shook his head. 'No, no, that's impossible. The only ones who know are my father's family, and I'm that last of his bloodline so that's impossible… but… no way… he couldn't have found that place. It's surrounded by a fog and only my tribe can navigate through there. Maybe that's the best thing we can do for now, at least for Tikal. As long as she's safe, then nothing else matters.'


	8. Chapter 8

"Alright!!!" Sonic shouted as everyone packed all their belongings and placed them in the X-Tornado. "Whadda you guys say we get the hell out of here and go find Robotnik!?"  
Tails smiled as he placed his hand on his best friend's shoulder, "Remember, we need to get Tikal home right away."

"Yeah." Knuckles interrupted.

"Actually, I think that might be a bad idea." Blaze intervened, "Don't you think that would be the very first place Robotnik would look if she wasn't with us?"

"Then what should we do?" Tails asked.

Sonic grinned, "Why don't we hold on to Tikal, then when Robotnik come to get her, we'll have him right where we want him."

"We're not using Tikal as bait!" Knuckles shouted.

"We're not! We're just going to hold on to her so we can catch Robotnik."

"That's BAIT you nimrod!"

"I have an idea." Rudolph said causing everyone to stop and look at him.

"Whoa!" Sonic cooed. "This is a first, so what's up?"

"There's this place that we can take her, and place only I alone know how to get to. It's not too far from here, but if we can get her there, she'll be safe."

"Really?" Tikal asked as she walked up to Rudolph, "You would do that for me?"

"Of course, your safety is my number one priority."

Sonic could help but grin. "Hey Rudy, I understand you're hittin on her and all but don't make it seem like you're the only one who cares about Tikal, we care too dude."  
Rudolph glared at Sonic as he said, "Yeah, but I wasn't the blue big headed bigmouth numbskull who suggested using Tikal as bait." Then Rudolph simply walked past Sonic and the group, jumped into the second cockpit, and waited for everyone.

"Ouch." Sonic winced. "Did he have to be so mean?"

"You know," Shadow said as he walked next to Sonic, "I'm starting to like that guy." Then Shadow laughed as he walked past Sonic, "Blue big headed bigmouth numbskull, ha! He's good."

"Shut up faker!" Sonic called to Shadow but he just ignored him as he kept walking to the X-Tornado.

"Hmm."Tails said to himself as he looked at the X-Tornado.

"What's up bro?" Sonic asked.

"I'm not sure if there will be enough room for all of us."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I'm not sure if there will be enough room for Tikal."

"Why?"

"Well, with you, Knuckles, Blaze, and Shadow riding on the four wings and me and Rudolph in the only two cockpits, where is Tikal going to go?"  
A large smirk began to form on Sonic's face as he turned to Rudolph. "Hey Rudy!" Sonic called causing Rudolph to turn to him. "We're running out of room so, Tikal's gonna have to sit on your lap!" After shouting this both Tikal's and Rudolph's face began to resemble that of Knuckles.

"S-s-s-Sonic." Tikal stuttered. "Are you sure?"

"It's ok, Tikal." Sonic grinned. "Besides, Rudolph said that your safety was important to him. This way, he can keep a close eye on you."

"Ok." Then Sonic picked up Tikal and jumped onto the jet and let her down on her feet. Then he jumped onto the wing in front of them. "Uh… Rudolph… can I sit with you?" Tikal asked as they two of them began to blush even harder.

"S-sure." Rudolph stuttered. Then Tikal slowly sat down on his lap with their faces becoming redder with each passing second.

'I'm so evil.' Sonic thought as he looked at the two and it took him every ounce of self-control he had in every molecule in his body to keep himself from laughing.

"Ok Rudy." Tails said over the intercom, "I need you to type in the coordinates."

"The location in 32w and 76sw from here." Rudolph said. "And when did you start calling me, Rudy?"

"I don't know." Tails laughed over the intercom. "Wait, are you sure this is right?"

"Trust me."

"Ok. Get ready!" Tails shouted as the jet suddenly took off forcing Tikal closer to Rudolph causing the two to blush again with Sonic unable to contain his laughter any longer.

A few hours later, the group was still flying with Sonic lying down on the wing of the X-Tornado. He glanced to his left and saw a cloud of smoke coming towards their direction. Sonic stood up and brought his watch to his mouth. "Hey Tails."

"Yeah Sonic?"

"I think we have company."

"What do you mean?"

"Look to your left."

Tails followed Sonic orders and saw the cloud of smoke. "Uh oh."

"What is it, bro?"

"A mechanical triceratops."

"Heh, that's all?" Sonic grinned. "Keep the X-Tornado going, I can handle this." Sonic grinned as he backflipped off the wing and began running alongside the jet. In no time the triceratops caught up to the group, but with the ready-to-go Sonic waiting for it, the mechanical triceratops turned its attention to the blue hedgehog. "All right then! You ready to go!?" The triceratops roared catching everyone's attention. "Just what I was thinking, let's go!!!" Sonic shouted as he spindashed into the triceratops causing it to stumble, thus slowing it down. "Heh, that was too easy." But then the triceratops quickly ran toward Sonic, trying to stab him with one of his horns. But Sonic quickly jumped into the air and landed on the mechanical beast's head causing it to jerk its head leaving Sonic to fly in the air. But Sonic simply curled into his spindash and lunged himself into the triceratops' back stopping it in its tracks. Sonic jumped off its back and grinned at the mechanical triceratops. "Wow, I didn't mean to hit you so hard buddy." But then suddenly the triceratops quickly lunged forward catching Sonic between its horns and began shocking him causing him to scream. Then the beast stood up, and thrust its head and Sonic into the ground.

"Tails!" Knuckles shouted, "Stop the plane!"

"On it!" Tails said as the jet came to a stop and landed.

"Damnit Sonic!" Knuckles shouted, but before he could jump off, Shadow was already on his way to Sonic and with a quick kick, the triceratops flew off Sonic who slowly step out of his crater.

"You know I didn't need your help." Sonic said as he brushed the dirt off his clothes.

"Whatever." Shadow sighed as the triceratops slowly stood up and stared at the two hedgehogs. "He's coming."

"I know that!" Sonic shouted as the triceratops charged for the two. Shadow quickly jumped over the beast, but was immediately swatted with the triceratops' tail slamming him into the ground. Sonic near instantly jumped into the air, curled into a ball, and began spinning in place creating a tornado hurling the mechanical triceratops in the air. Shadow quickly stood up and raised both his arms creating hundreds of gold lights around the midair triceratops.

"Chaos SPEAR!!!" Shadow shouted as the lights transformed into arrows of light and closed in and destroyed the mechanical triceratops in and instant. After that, the two turned to the jet to see the group running up to them.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Sonic grinned.

Knuckles and Tails ran to Sonic, "Sonic, are you ok?" Tails asked.

"A little banged up, but no worries." Sonic grinned with a thumbs-up, but his grinned slowly left his face as he noticed Blaze walking over to Shadow.

"Are you hurt, Shadow." Blaze asked.

Shadow simply stared at Blaze and then smiled, "Not at all."

Blaze smiled, "That's good."

"Yeah." Knuckles grinned. "I thought I was gonna have to help."

"You're pretty tough for a hedgehog." Blaze grinned.

"Don't think so highly of yourself, princess." Shadow grinned right back.

Sonic glared at the two and was about to say something until, "Sonic!" Tikal called. Sonic turned to Tikal who ran up to him. "Are you ok? You're not hurt are you?"  
"I'm fine," Sonic said with a smile. "Clothes are a little messed up but no need to worry 'bout me."

"That's good." Tikal sighed.

"Well then," Rudolph cut in. "If everyone's fine, I'd suggest you'd hurry up."

"What's your rush?" Shadow asked.

"I don't know too much about machines, but I'm pretty sure that thing has some kind of tracking device in it, so with it destroyed, Robotnik will figure out our location any minute."

"He's got a point." Tails said.

"So let's get going." Rudolph grunted as he turned to the jet with everyone following him.

"So Tails, how far is place Rudy told us to go to?" Sonic asked as everyone got settled and they began to take off.

"I guess we'll be there in like 5 minutes." Tails responded as the jet reached its top speed.

"Well there's no need to rush, you can slow the X-Tornado down."

"Why?" Tails asked in confusion.

Sonic turned to the blushing echidnas in the back cockpit, "No reason really. Just… taking in the view, that's all."

"Well… ok… but it's a little too late for that."

"Why?"

"Because we're here." Tails as the jet slowly came to a stop.

"Uh… Tails, we're in the middle of nowhere." Sonic said as he looked around the endless plains of the desert. "Hey Rudy!" Sonic called back. "Are you sure we're in the right place!?"

"Yes." Rudolph answered calmly.

Tails looked around as he asked, "So… what do we do now?"

"We walk." Rudolph answered causing everyone to turn to him.

"Walk?" Sonic stated in confusion.

"Yes. Where I'm talking you is forbidden grounds by everyone other than my tribe. I can't show you the location."

"But if we leave the X-Tornado out here like this," Tails began, "Robotnik will at least figure out the region we're in."

"Yeah," Knuckles added. "Seeing this thing out here is like leaving a giant arrow for him to follow."

"I can't." Rudolph grunted.

"Please Rudolph." Tikal pleaded. "I don't want to place my friends in danger."

Rudolph stared at Tikal then sighed in defeat. "Fine. Head south, southwest for 3 miles."

Tails smiled, "Thanks!"

"Yeah thanks." Sonic smirked. "Although I would've enjoyed the run.

"What's so funny?" Knuckles asked as the jet began to pick up speed.

Sonic slightly turned to Rudolph and Tikal before he turned to Knuckles, "Nothing."


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey Rudy." Tails called through the intercom.

"Yeah?" Rudolph answered.

"Are we getting close?" Tails asked as he stared at an oncoming fog.

"Yes, once we get fully inside the fog, land the plane." Rudolph stated.

Tikal turned back to Rudolph, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Will do." Tails said as he slowed the X-Tornado upon entering the fog. Once landed, everyone jump out the X-Tornado and tried to look around.

"Damn this fog is thick." Sonic sighed, "I can hardly see the nose in front of my face."

"Tell me about." Tails said as he walked next to Sonic.

"So Rudolph," Knuckles began. "Where do we go now? Rudolph…? Rudolph…?" Knuckles began to ask as he looked around causing everyone to follow suit.

"Rudolph!" Tikal called out. "Rudolph! Are you still here!?"

"I'm fine." Rudolph called out through the thick fog. Then slowly, the group saw a dim green light through the fog, and slowly the green light expanded pushing the fog around the group away. Soon the group, though still surrounded by fog, was covered in a lightly green, transparent dome.

"Whoa!" Sonic grinned as he looked around. "What is this?"

"It's a protective barrier." Rudolph said. "But I warn you, you'd do best to stay within my barrier."

"Why?" Tails asked.

"Because," Rudolph began, "This fog isn't ordinary."

"What are you trying to say?" Blaze asked.

Rudolph smirked slightly, "This fog is actually a poisonous gas."

"WHAT!!?" everyone shouted at the same time.

"Poison!?" Knuckles shouted, "All of us were just in this fog a few seconds ago!"

"Why didn't you tell us ahead of time!?" Sonic yelled as he grabbed Rudolph.

"Would you have listen to me?" Rudolph asked with a grin.

"Oh shit we're gonna die!" Sonic yelled as he let go of Rudolph and fell to his knees.

"Rudolph," Tikal began with tears in her eyes, "How long do we have?"

"You don't have to worry, none of you were exposed to the poison long enough for the gas to take effect." Rudolph stated allowing everyone to calm down.

"Wait, so we're going to be ok?" Tikal asked with her smile returning.

"Yeah, just so long as everyone stays in my barrier." Rudolph said as he began to walk with everyone following. "Remember, stay close at all times."

"So then," Sonic began. "Did you set us up like that for a joke?"

"Kinda." Rudolph smirked.

"Glad to see ya lighten up a little." Sonic grinned as he playfully punched his shoulder.

"So… Rudolph, right?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah? What is it?" Rudolph asked.

"This poison… you said it has a delayed reaction… how does it work?"

"Hmm, well it's simple really." Rudolph began. "In order for the gas to take effect, you must spend a lot of time breathing it in or otherwise it won't work."

"How long?"

"2-5 minutes at the longest. But you'll know if it takes effect."

"What are the symptoms?"

"First it feels as if your blood is boiling, then your bones stiffen so you can't move and your throat swells up as well. After that your fur falls off and your skin peels off causing you to bleed from every pour in your body leaving you either to die from loss of blood or suffocation." Rudolph finished leaving everyone in silence.

"So this poison also works as an acid?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. Can this gas ever become a liquid?" Shadow asked intrigued even more than when the conversation first began.

"No, it stays a gas at all times. But the gas is incredibly think so it won't rise even in hot weather."

"Before we leave, I'm going to get a sample."

"WHY!!?" Sonic asked.

"To use on people who piss me off." Shadow grinned leaving Sonic to gulp.

"Sorry, but you're forbidden to take any." Rudolph said as he turned to Shadow. "This poison is one-of-a-kind, if an outside source got a hold of it, they could create a cure and ruin the whole purpose of its creation."

"Fine." Shadow sighed.

"Uh why are we here again?" Sonic asked.

"To hide Tikal from Robotnik." Tails answered.

"Great, leave Tikal here all alone completely surrounded by a poisonous gas to die… yeah… good plan dude." Sonic said sarcastically.

"I never said she would be alone." Rudolph said.

"Really?" Sonic asked, "Who on Mobius could survive in this place?"

"Only one creature that I know." Rudolph said as the group came to a large clearing in the fog. The group saw a very large canyon that stretched for miles with the bottom unseeable due to the fog covering the bottom of the canyon with columns and pillars of stone rising from the fog.

"Whoa, where are we?" Sonic asked.

Rudolph grinned as he stared as the ravine, "The Land of the Vultures."

"Vultures?" Blaze asked.

"Yeah."

"Don't they prey on the un-evolved animals?" Tails asked shaking a little. "And other animals too?"

"Only the dead ones."

"Then why did we bring Tikal here?" Knuckles asked.

"Because, this place is the safest place for her, and besides, my tribe and theirs are on good terms with each other." Rudolph said as he began to glow a bright green color and the group was lifted off the ground by his barrier. "Do me a favor, don't move."

"Why?" Sonic asked as they began to fly to the center of the canyon.

"This technique takes a lot of concentration, and I don't think you want to fall down there."

Everyone looked down at the bottom, "Point taken." Sonic sighed.

Soon the group began to see the small tribe of crows that Rudolph spoke of though no crows could be seen. Once they landed, many crows began to appear as if out of nowhere and surrounded them with spears.

"Wow. What a welcome." Sonic grinned.

"Shut up." Knuckles grunted as he backed away from the spears.

"What? It's just like Hawaii but instead of necklaces made of flowers, they got sharp, pointy spears."

"STATE YOUR BUSINESS!!!" One of the vultures shouted.

"This is MY business!" Rudolph yelled back.

"What!? You TRAITOR!!!" the vulture shouted.

"I'm no traitor!"

"Then why are you here, and why did you bring them!?"

"I… I need your help with the princess from the Northern tribe-" But before Rudolph could finish, vultures begun lunging their spears towards the echidna princess. But Rudolph quickly jumped in front of their paths leaving him to be stabbed through his chest and stomach instead. Tikal stood behind him, staring and crying but then Rudolph rose his right arm then swung it down breaking all the spears. Then he pulled each half that still resided in his body out and threw them to the ground. Rudolph glared at the vultures as his wounds began to heal, "Stand down now." The few vultures that challenged him began to back away slowly.

"Rudolph…" Tikal whispered.

Rudolph turned back to Tikal with a smile, "I'm fine. These wounds will heal in minutes." Having heard that, a smile grew on Tikal's face. Then out of the crowd of vultures, a tall, darker vulture walked up to Rudolph with a smile slowly growing on his face.

"Hello Rudolph." The vulture said with a smile.

"It's good to see you again Lord Mathias." Rudolph said with a smile and a bow.

"I trust you have a good reason for why you've brought these outsiders here to our domain."

"Please I beg you… can you please watch over Princess Tikal until my return." Rudolph asked as he got on his knees.

Mathias quickly glared at Tikal and then looked at Rudolph, "Rudolph, I shouldn't have to remind you of what their tribe did to ours, yours and mine."

"I haven't forgotten."

"Then why?"

Rudolph turned to Tikal, then turned back to Mathias, "She's… different… and… special."

Mathias smiled as he placed his hand on his shoulder urging him to stand. "Fine my boy, we will watch over her."

Rudolph smiled as he and Mathias shook hands, "Thank you."

"Yes, princess!" Mathias called causing Tikal to walk over to the two.

"Tikal," Rudolph said with a smile, "This is Lord Mathias, he has promised to protect you until I get back."

Tikal turned to Mathias and bowed, "Thank-you very much." But then everyone heard a crash come from within a large building. Everyone ran in the build to see a white bat standing over a pile of broken pottery.

"Damnit!" she yelled, "I can't believe there's no treasure here!" the bat turned around to see a group of vultures staring at her. "Whoops! Gotta fly boys!" she said with a smirk as she began to takeoff, but then Rudolph near instantaneously tackled her to the ground and pinned her to the ground by her throat.

"Rudolph!" Everyone called.

"What!?"

"Let go of her!" Shadow called.

"Why should I!?"

"If you don't, I'll kill you!"

"Try it! I'll take you both out!"

"You don't understand dude!" Sonic called out. "She's our friend!"

"Friend!?"

"Yeah so let go of her!"

Rudolph grunted as he slowly released her. She stood there coughing and wheezing,

"What the hell did you do that for!?" She yelled as she tried to kick Rudolph, but he quickly caught her foot and slammed her to the ground again.

"Don't try me." Rudolph grunted. "Male or female, I will kill you, make no mistake."  
Rouge rubbed her leg as she stood up, "Hmph! I never thought I'd ever meet an echidna who could take me down."

"You're lucky your friends are here, I WAS about to kill you."

"What were you doing here anyway!?" Shadow asked as he walked up to Rouge.

"She was stealing, what else?" Knuckles said as he shook his head.

"Yeah so what!?" Rouge shouted back.

"So what?" Rudolph asked as he walked towards Rouge. "You just trespassed on The Vulture's Land." Rudolph said as Rouge looked around at all the vultures. "The penalty for that is for them to eat you."

Rouge gulped, "You're joking, right? I'm not even dead yet."

"Yet?" Rudolph asked with a smirk, "Who ever said that they wouldn't kill you first?"

"I can't let them eat me!" Rouge screamed.

"Why not?" Rudolph asked. "They haven't had bat in a long time. I'm pretty sure you taste just as good as you look."

"Come on Rudolph." Tails pleaded. "You're really not going to let them eat her, right?"

"I might."

"But she could help us find Robotnik."

"I DO know where Robotnik is." Rouge jumped in.

"You do, do you?" Rudolph asked as he turned to Rouge.

"Yeah, and if you let me go free, I'll tell you where he is."

"Not bad, but how about this. You tell me where he is, or I'll feed you to them."

"O-o-ok. He's should be about 15 miles northeast from here. He's in a base that floats in the sky, you know, like the Angel Island."

"Fine." Rudolph said as he turned away.

"So I can go free right?"

"Who said that?" Rudolph asked causing Rouge to jumped, "Fine, you can stay with us. But if you cross me, I will kill you. Simple as that." Then Rudolph signaled the other vultures to follow him outside.

"Are you ok?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah… I think so." Rouge said with a breath of relief.

"Heh, I never seen you so scared before Rouge." Knuckles grinned.

"Shut your mouth you knucklehead!"

"How did you get here anyway?" Sonic asked. "Didn't you go through that fog?"

"I could tell it wasn't an ordinary fog. So I just used my wings to blow it away as I walked here."

"Hmm. That's smart." Knuckles nodded.

"Well if I were you," Sonic began, "I'd stay wit us."

"Why!?" Rouge asked shocked. "I need to get as far away from that freak as possible!"

"Remember what he said, if you try to run, he'll kill you. And trust me, he'll keep that promise."

"Fine." Rouge sighed in defeat. "I guess I got no choice then. Shall we go outside?"

"Might as well." Shadow sighed as the group walk out and over to the entrance.

Rudolph grabbed Tikal by the hand and walked her over to Mathias. "Remember, you gave me your word." Rudolph said with a smile.

"Yes you don't have to worry." Mathias responded with a smile.

"Thank you." Rudolph bowed, and then he turned to Tikal, "I-we, won't be long, ok?"

"Ok." Tikal responded with a smile.

"So Rudolph," Sonic called. "You ready to go and find Robotnik or what!?"

Rudolph turned back to Sonic, "Yeah, let's go." But when Rudolph took a step forward, he felt someone grab his hand. He turned to see Tikal staring at him holding him by his hand, and when he turned around completely, Tikal surprised him with a hug. Rudolph stood there stunned for a few seconds, then returned the hugged.

"You'll come back, right?" Tikal asked clutching him tighter.

"Yeah."

"You promise?"

Rudolph paused for a moment, "Yeah, I promise."

Tikal let go of Rudolph and smiled. "Ok, I'll hold you to it."

"Got it." Rudolph smiled, then he turned and walked over to the Sonic and his friends, then they flew off. Once they landed on the outside cliff, the group began to walk towards the X-Tornado.

"So who are you anyway?" Rouge asked.

"My name is Rudolph." He said neither without emotion nor without looking at her.  
Rouge waited a few seconds before, "Don't you want to know who I am?"

"You're a thief, there's nothing else needed to know."

"Hey look here you dirt echidna!" Rouge shouted as she jumped in front of him. "I'm much more than a thief!"

"Couldn't care less. Now get out of my way."

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm not your friend, I won't hesitate from ripping your pretty head from your neck." Rudolph said causing her to jump leaving Rudolph to walk by her.

"What's his problem?"

"He doesn't like you." Knuckles stated.

"Why? He doesn't even know me."

"You're a thief. Why would he like you?" Knuckles as he walked past her to stay within the barrier.

"Hmph! Whatever." In little time the group reached the X-Tornado and with Rouge riding on the same wing as Shadow, they were off.


	10. Chapter 10

"Hey guys." Tails called through the intercom. "Is anyone getting hungry?"

"What's wrong bro?" Sonic asked with a grin, "Your tummy growling?"

"… Maybe." Tails blushed.

Sonic couldn't help but laugh, "Why don't we take a break?"

"Sure… if it's ok with Rudolph?"

"Fine, we're close enough." Rudolph said.

Tails landed the X-Tornado next to a small canyon and in no time, everyone was unpacked and setting up a new camp site.

Sonic was laughing with Tails, Rouge, and Knuckles until he looked over and saw Blaze and Shadow smiling and talking. 'What the hell does he think he's doing?' Sonic thought to himself. 'Shadow never smiles, and he's been getting awfully close to Blaze… too close… he'd better not be trying to steal her from me!!!' Then Sonic saw Shadow get up and walk off. 'Ok, now's my chance.' Sonic said as he got up and went in the direction Shadow went. "Hey Shadow!" Sonic called causing Shadow to turn around.

"Yeah, what's up Sonic?" Shadow asked simply.

"I know what you're trying to do."

"Huh?" Shadow asked in confusion.

"You're trying to steal Blaze from me, aren't you?"

Shadow stood there in confusion, "What are you talking about? Blaze and I are just friends."

"Yeah right! I see you, laughing, joking 'round, smiling… SMILING! You don't smile! You grin, you smirk, you laugh evilly, but you NEVER smile!"

"So what!? Shadow asked getting annoyed.

"You're trying to steal Blaze from me and you know it! You're always trying to be better than me at everything! It's like you can't get enough of it!"

"You're out of your mind, you stupid hedgehog!" Shadow yelled.

"Yeah right! I bet if I tell Rouge you'd be singing a different tune."

"If you tell her any such lie I'll-"

"You'll what?"

Slowly a smirk began to form on Shadow's face, "Well you'll be ending my relationship with her so… that means I could take Blaze off your hands." Then near instantaneously, Sonic ran up to Shadow and punched him in his jaw causing him to tumble back before he got to his feet.

"You'd better stay away from Blaze!"

"You can't tell me shit!" Shadow shouted as he ran to Sonic and kicked him back causing him to fall over. Once Sonic was on his feet, Shadow began punching Sonic rapidly in his stomach but then Sonic head-butted Shadow breaking his balance, then tackled him to the ground and the two began rolling on the ground trading blows with one another until the shouting and commotion caused everyone to get up from what they were doing and run over to the fight.

"Sonic! Shadow!" Knuckles called, "What are you guys doing!?"

"Sonic stop it!" Tails pleaded.

"Rudolph!" Knuckles called. "Help me get these two away from each other!"

"This isn't my fight." Rudolph said as he put up his hands and shook his head.

"Don't worry," Rouge said. "I got Shadow, you get blue boy."

"Got it." Knuckles said as he grabbed Sonic and Rouge grabbed Shadow and the two pulled them apart.

"Sonic!" Blaze yelled. "What the hell is your problem!?"

"He started it!"

"Knowing you, I doubt that!"

"What are you talking about!?"

"You always act like a child! You always try to mess around with others, you can never control yourself!"

"So you're choosing him over me again!?"

"What are you talking about!?"

"You know what, fuck it! Nevermind!" Sonic shouted as he shook Knuckles' grip loose and walked away.

"Sonic!" Tails called after the hedgehog. "Where are you going!?"

"For a run!" Sonic shouted as he jumped down the cliff.

Shadow grunted as he and the others walked off.

"Damnit!" Sonic yelled as he finally made it to the bottom. "After everything we've been through, err FUCK!!!" Then Sonic felt a small shake in the ground. When he turned to the trail, he saw a large mechanical stegosaurs with hundreds of spikes on its back instead of the usual row. The machine stopped and stared at Sonic. "Hey, I'm not in the mood. Come back tomorrow or something." Sonic said as he waved the machine off but then Sonic was hit by the tail of the beast and flew straight into the wall. Sonic slowly pulled himself out of the wall and glared at the stegosaurs, "Fine then, I warned you." Sonic said as he lunged himself as his homing attack at the mechanical dinosaur but the stegosaurs quickly curled into a ball and began spinning like Sonic grinding with him until the two shot away from each other. "Copycat!" Sonic shouted as he went for another attack only for the stegosaurs to jump in the air and land on Sonic smashing him into the ground. A few feet away, the ground began to crack, then Sonic shot out the ground with his eyes raging in fury. "That's it!" Then Sonic began spinning and glowing with a very bright blue aura. "LIGHT ATTACK!!!" Then Sonic shot straight for the stegosaurs, but the mechanical dinosaur quickly activated a multi-colored chaos shield causing Sonic to rebound off the shield, knocking Sonic straight into the air. Then the mechanical beast spun for the midair hedgehog, but Sonic saw it coming and he moved slightly but he was unable to dodge the oncoming attack completely as a blade sliced his entire right arm from wrist to shoulder. Sonic landed on the ground holding his damage arm as the stegosaurs landed on the ground and turn to Sonic. "That's it…" Sonic whispered. "I'm fucking sick and tired of this…" Then the stegosaurs curled into a ball and spun itself for Sonic, but he quickly, using his left hand, swatted the large mechanical dinosaur into the wall.

Knuckles and Rudolph instantly dropped their food and stared over to the canyon, "What the hell was THAT!?" Rudolph asked.

"What's wrong you guys?" Tails asked.

"Not sure, but it feels like… SONIC!" Knuckles shouted as he ran to the canyon causing everyone to follow. When everyone looked over the cliff, they saw a robot slowly picking itself up and something clouded in a dark blue aura. When the group looked closer, they could see Sonic standing within the aura. At that moment, Sonic's blue fur instantly turned black, his quills began to stand on end and his pupils and irises faded away leaving only glowing white eyes.

"What kind of power is this?" Rudolph asked himself, "I never felt anything so cold and hollow before."

"Dark Sonic." Tails whispered as he shivered.

Sonic stared at the robot until it was on its feet. "Finally." Sonic said as he picked up a stone. "Let's play a game. I'm going to throw this rock in the air, and I'm going to see how many hits I can get on you before this hits the ground." A grin slowly appeared on Sonic's face. "Ready… go." Sonic said as he threw the rock skyward. Sonic slowly crouch down then instantly shot for the robot knocking him in the air. Then while the robot was still airborne, the group saw flashes of light as the mechanical stegosaurs was being sliced piece by piece until finally all that was left was its mechanical head as it fell to the ground with Dark Sonic landing on it, crushing it in one quick motion. "17,856 hits, not bad if I do say so myself." He grinned before he extended his left arm catching the rock without looking.

"Sonic!!!" Tails called causing Sonic to look up that his friends who were still in shock at what they just saw and who they were looking at. Slowly Sonic's dark blue aura began to fade and his original blue color began to return. "Sonic! I'm coming!" Tails called as he was getting ready to take flight. But before he could move, Sonic was already behind him.

"No need. I'm here." Tails quickly turned around and hugged Sonic, clutching his shirt. "Relax, I'm fine."

Tails slowly let go of Sonic, "I'm sorry, I was just worried that's-" Then Tails noticed Sonic's bleeding right arm. "Sonic!"

"I just need your bandage tape." Sonic said emotionless.

"Ok I'll be right back." Tails said as he quickly flew to the X-Tornado and pulled out the first-aid kit and took out the bandage tape Sonic asked for but dropped it. "I'm sorry." Tails called out.

Before it could hit the ground, Sonic caught the tape with his damaged right arm. "Thanks Tails, you're a lifesaver." Sonic said as he began to walk off.

"Sonic!" Tails called.

"I'm fine, don't need any help." Sonic waved as he walked off and stepped down a cliff away from everyone else.

Rudolph walked over next to Knuckles. "So he has direct contact with the Chaos Force?"

"Yeah." Knuckles sighed.

"He was using the negative half of the Chaos Force, you know that right?"

"I know."

"We should kill him." Rudolph said causing Knuckles to turn to him. "A part of him is still tapping in the negative half of the Chaos Force. He could be a hazard."

"No!" Tails yelled as stood in front of Rudolph. "He very, very rarely gets like that. He must be really upset about something."

Rudolph sighed, "Fine, but I hope he solves his problems soon." Rudolph said as he walked over to the campsite.

"Shadow." Blaze said as she walked over to him. "What's wrong with Sonic?"

"Maybe you should ask him." Shadow said as he and the others walked over to the campsite.


	11. Chapter 11

"Ok." Sonic said as he looked over his right arm. "Hopefully, I didn't lose too much blood."

"Sonic." A voice called from behind him. When Sonic turned, he saw Blaze standing there and quickly turned back around. "Sonic."

"Oh! Now I exist." Sonic said as he stood up.

"Huh?"

"Don't give me that."

"What's your problem?" Blaze demanded.

"Like you don't know."

"I don't, so answer me."

"Why don't you go to Shadow? I'm pretty sure he wants you around."

"What does Shadow have to do with this!?" Blaze asked with her voice rising.

"Everything!" Sonic yelled.

"What!?"

"I see you two together, having fun, being happy, and yet you never pay me any damn attention!"

"What are you talking about!?"

"Ever since we got out here, the only person who you didn't give a damn about was me! The forest, the battles with Robotnik's robots, even my fight with Shadow, the only person you cared about was him!"

"You're mad because you want attention? What are you, four!?"

"You know what, if you didn't want to be with me anymore, you should have just said so!" Sonic shouted leaving Blaze in complete and udder shock.

"W-what?" Blaze asked in disbelief.

"You heard me." Sonic said as he turned away. "If Shadow makes you that happy… then… why lead me on huh?" Sonic asked slowly as if he were choking on his words. "If you love the guy that much…"

"Sonic…" Blaze whispered in disbelief thinking… no, believing this moment was some sort of dream. "Sonic… why… how could you even think that?"

"I thought the same thing… but I guess… I was proven wrong." Hearing this caused Blaze to stare at Sonic almost as if he weren't really standing there in front of her. Then Blaze began to chuckle causing Sonic to whip his head around. "What's so funny?"

"You. You're such a fucking retard!" Blaze said between laughs leaving Sonic in udder confusion. "After everything the two of us been through together, I never thought Shadow would be our breaking point."

"Yeah, me neither."

Then Blaze instantly stiffened. "Sonic… Sonic, Sonic, Sonic… there's something you need to understand. Do you know how close you are to Amy and Sally?" Sonic just stared at her. "Don't you ever think that it makes me feel uncomfortable for those two to be so close to your heart? Every time you're with them, I feel as if I'm slowly losing you." Sonic's eyes begin to widen. "And yet… there was always that one small part of me… that one voice deep down inside that says, 'You won't lose him. He loves you.' That one small… insignificant little voice was enough to allow me to believe that no matter what… we were going to be happy." Blaze said as a small smile began to form on her face as she placed her hand on her flame shaped ruby necklace. "Shadow… he's is one of my closest friends… he is one of the few people who can relate to me. He gives me the confidence I need to believe in myself."

Hearing this, Sonic turned his head slightly, "So… I've gone down a rank…?"

"No Sonic, Shadow has given me the confidence I needed. And if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be where I am today… standing with the person I love." Sonic quickly turned to Blaze, "If it wasn't for him… right now, I would still be admiring you from afar. I owe him everything because he gave me the ability to reach for the happiness I deserve. But Shadow can't compare to you Sonic, my one, only true love. Shadow may have given me the confidence I needed to open my heart to you, but you show me every single day what true strength really is. Every day, I see you wake up with that bright smile on your face, ready to start each and every day as if it were your last. You always put others, even people you don't know before yourself. And no matter what problems you face, you always face them head on with a grin and confidence that no other person in the entire world could even compare to. Just being so close to gives me courage and strength that I never had before in my life. I can't… I won't let you leave me Sonic… because if you did… I would be able to breathe… to live… without you… I love you Sonic… no one else… and nothing will ever change that." Blaze finished with a smile and tears rolling down her cheeks.

Hearing this, Sonic stood there, very still, and then tears began to fall down his face as well. "Blaze… I… I'm so sorry. Just the thought of losing you… I could help myself… I just… I'm so… so sorry." Sonic said as he stared into her eyes.

"It's ok Sonic, its ok." Then Blaze's right hand balled into a fist and she punched Sonic in his left temple causing him to fall over on his right arm. When Sonic looked up to Blaze, she stood towering over him. "That was for even thinking I would ever leave you!" Then Blaze crouched down in front of him. "And this is so you never think that ever, ever again." Then Blaze's lips slowly met Sonic's in a simple, yet graceful embrace. As the moment continued, Sonic began to lead on his arm causing him to wince and end the passionate moment. "What's wrong Sonic?" Blaze asked worryingly.

"It's my arm." Sonic grunted then once he brought his arm to his face, he saw that the tape was soaked with blood. "Damnit. My cut reopened."

"Why didn't you ask Knuckles to heal it for you?"

"Uh… I didn't really think of that." Sonic said with an embarrassing grin.

Blaze just sighed with a smile, "You are something else."

Sonic couldn't help but grin, "Yeah I know."

"Come on, let's go and find Knuckles."

"Sure." Then the two rose to their feet and headed back to the campsite. Though the two reached the campsite, Sonic and Blaze found it to be vacant. "Hmm I wonder where they went." Sonic asked as he and Blaze looked around. But as they were searching, Blaze found a note that was left behind.

"Dear Blaze and Sonic, went off to scan the area, be back in a few, Tails." Blaze read out loud. "I guess that explain it."

"Wait, lemmie see that." Sonic said with Blaze handing the note over to him, "Yep, that's his hand writing alright." Sonic said as he placed the note down and began to walk around.

"Where are you going?"

"You know, around."

"No you're not, not with that arm."

"I'm fine." Sonic waved.

"Look, you want my attention so now you got it." Blaze said as she walked over to Sonic.  
"Well what am I going to do? Knuckles ain't here."

Blaze thought for a moment then she held out her hands and the Sol Emeralds appeared in a flash, "Maybe… I could heal you with the Sol Emeralds?"

"Worth a shot right?"

"But will it work? You've used Chaos energy for so long, you might have a bad reaction to it."

"Well we won't know until we try, right?" Sonic asked with his trademark grin.

Blaze looked at Sonic and smiled as she began a solemn chant, "Collectors of powers, I can upon thee, unification of Power, Flight, Speed, Life, Control, Spirit, and Immortality, please heed my call, I beg of thee, heal my husband." Then the Sol Emeralds began to float and spin around Sonic causing both to glow with a bright light. Then once the light faded, Sonic look over his body and with a smile, he tore off his bandage reviling a perfectly healed arm.

"Yeah! It work!" Sonic grinned then stopped and stared at Blaze.

"What's wrong?"

"My mouth."

"Your mouth?" She asked in confusion.

"You just punched me and you forgot? Wow!" Sonic said with a laugh. "My jaw is bleeding because of you."

A smirk slowly began to form on her face as she stood up, "Fine then, I got the perfect remedy for that." She said as she walked over to Sonic with steam coming from her mouth. Sonic knowing what Blaze was thinking began to walk to her and the two began another passionate moment. As they kissed, Blaze unexpectingly pushed Sonic to the ground and though he was surprised, he didn't complain. Then Blaze crawled on top of Sonic as if he was her prey then the two began kissing and slowly taking each other's clothes off.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice called from out of nowhere and Sonic and Blaze instantly jumped away from each other and franticly scanned the area around them. Soon the two looked up a small cliff to see Rudolph sitting on the edge staring out into the evening sky. "If you try to do that out here, Robotnik could catch you off guard or your friends could catch you."

Sonic and Blaze stared up at Rudolph who didn't flinch, "Were you going to watch us!?" Blaze demanded.

Rudolph glared at the two, "I am NOT a pervert! And besides, if I wanted to, would I have stopped you?" Rudolph asked as he turned back to the sky. Then in the distant Sonic and Blaze could see their friends walking towards the campsite.

"Sonic!" Tails called as he ran to Sonic.

"Hey bro!" Sonic called with a grin as Tails reached him.

"You feeling any better?"

"Yeah." Sonic grinned as he hugged Blaze then he turned to Shadow and slowly walked to him. Both Sonic and Shadow stood there staring at each other before Sonic sighed and mumbled something under his breath.

"What?" Shadow asked in confusion.

"I'm sorry." Sonic barely whispered

A grin appeared on Shadow's face, "I didn't catch that."

"I'm sorry, ok!?" Sonic yelled somewhat. "Happy now!?"  
Shadow pulled out a voice recorded and his grin widened, "Yeah." Then he walked past Sonic leaving him there.

"I hate him sometimes." Sonic grunted.

"So…" Blaze began as she walked in front of Sonic. "You're not going to get upset if I relax with Shadow?"

Sonic looked at Blaze then sighed, "Naw, go ahead and have fun." Then Blaze suddenly kissed Sonic nearly tipping him over. Once she released the two stood there smiling at one another. "Aren't you gonna go?" Sonic asked.

"No, I thought I should stay with you tonight."

"It's ok, besides, I'm gonna go and talk with him." Sonic said as he looked up to Rudolph.

"Please don't start another fight, Sonic." Blaze scolded.

"Relax. I'll be back." Then Blaze left to the campsite as Sonic ran around the back over to the cliff.


	12. Chapter 12

"So Rudy!" Sonic as he walked up behind Rudolph. "Whacha doing?"

"Thinking." He responded simply.

"Hmm, thinking, tell me more about it."

"Are you bored?" Rudolph asked getting annoyed.

"No, just wanna give you some company." Sonic said as he sat down next to him. "So do you like Tikal?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. Why do you care anyway?"

"It just seems like you like her."

"Yeah like you and the cat?"

"Yeah."

"Well Tikal and I are too different."

"So what! Blaze and I are completely different! As a matter of fact, we're opposites. I like freedom, she likes priorities. I like fun, she likes training. I LOVE junk food, healthy food for her, nasty."

"Then why are you with her?"

"Because we don't let any of that get in the way of how we feel for each other. And though we're different, we have a lot in common, speed, power, ideas, out looks, and we love each other. We didn't even let a dimensional barrier come between us."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well about three years back, Blaze use to live in a completely different dimension. But when Robotnik and his twin Nega joined forces for the umpteenth time, they somehow expanded and fused our worlds together creating one new world."

"That would explain why it seemed as if the dessert got bigger." Rudolph said as he stared at the clouds.

"Yeah that was sure a rough year, but before that, even though Blaze and I weren't together at the time, we always watched each other's back. So unlike you, I didn't let anything get in the way of how I felt for her."

"Well it doesn't matter either way."

"I don't know… have you two experienced Soultouch yet?"

"Soultouch?"

"That love-at-first-sight-thing only echidnas have. You know when two echidnas look in each other's eyes and fall in love."

"I know what it is, I'm an echidna too you know?" Rudolph growled.

"Then you love her?"

Rudolph paused for a moment remembering the moment he had with her under the moonlit sky, "… Why?"

"Don't know." The two remained quiet until, "I've been meaning to ask, what's the beef between you and Tikal's tribe anyway?"

"They don't like me." Rudolph answered.

"I got that much, I mean why?"

"It's because of what I am."

"What are you?"

"A half-breed."

"Half-breed? You look like a full blooded echidna to me. You don't look half vulture, no wings on your back."

"I am a full-blooded echidna."

"Then how are you a half-breed?"

"My father hails from Tikal's and Knuckles' tribe, the Northern Echidna Kingdom while my mother hails from the Southern Echidna Tribe."

"So?"

Rudolph sighed, "I see I'm going to have to explain our history. A long time ago, thousands of years ago, our two tribes were once one. But somewhere along the way, some echidnas began digging deeper in the echidna religion and started worshiping the idea of one all-powerful god instead of many demi-gods. And due to the ways these rituals were carried out, the echidnas who were apart of the old religion, their fur began to deepen in color until it became a pitch-black color. Outraged by this, the leader banished all the black echidnas to the desert where my tribe was force to live."

"So… how are you a half-breed?"

"My mother is a black echidna from the Southern Tribe while my father is a red echidna that comes from the Northern Kingdom, which is why my fur is such an even brown."

"Makes sense."

"And because I'm half of each, both sides hate me. They think I'm some kind of unholy creature."

"Well that's not fair." Sonic said as he folded his arms. "Hey wait a second! You said that the two different tribes hated each other, then how did your parents meet?"

"Wow, pretty perceptive." Rudolph cooed with a smile.

"Yeah I can listen when I want to." Sonic grinned. "So anyways how did your parents get together?"

"Well my dad met my mom when she was still a princess and-"

"Whoa! Princess? Does that mean you're a prince?"

"I guess. I never really cared."

"Cool! Me too!"

"Really?" Rudolph asked as he looked at Sonic in disbelief.

"Yep! But anyway, continue."

"Well like I said, my dad met my mom when she was still a princess and the two fell in love through Soultouch. But though they loved each other, they kept it a secret… at least until my mother became queen. Once that happened, my tribe wondered why she hadn't settle with anyone and yet was pregnant and begun sneaking around, following my mother until they found her with my dad. My tribe was in outrage and since everyone found out, my mother tried to make my father the new king but no one would allow it. So my parents continued their relationship with my mother forbidding anyone from harming him. Once I was born, I was thought as a demon, a monster. I spent my whole life being attacked, spit on, insulted, just about anything you could imagine. Everyone despised me because my father was from the Northern Kingdom. Though my father would visit me often, most of our time was devoted to training me to guard the Chaoskey."

"So you're like Knuckles since he protects the Master Emerald." Sonic said letting Rudolph know that he understood.

"Yes."

"So what are your parents like?" Sonic asked.

"My mother… she alone besides my father was the only person who saw me for who I am and not for what I was. She's a very strong leader, always calm, quick thinker and actor. She just always knows what's best for everyone. Luckily, she and my tribe were able to get away before Robotnik attacked."

"Was that the same night that we found you all bruised up?"

"Yeah."

"What's your dad like?"

"He's very powerful, nearly as strong as Knuckles, but also very peaceful. He was one of the few echidnas form the Northern Kingdom that didn't hate the Southern Tribe. One of his favorite hobbies was to just lay in the fields and stare at the trees, sky, just the scenery in general. He would hardly speak, but his calm nature was reassurance enough to keep you happy." Rudolph said with a smile. "One thing my father would always say is that you should always care for others, even if they hate you. And that I shouldn't let what other people say affect me, and I should be happy being me. Everyday possessions can be replaced, but those you care for and care for you, they can never be replaced. Someday we will unite the two tribes into one, but until then, protect what's important to you."

"Sounds like a cool guy." Sonic grinned.

"Yeah, he was."

"I hope I get to meet him someday."

"You can't."

"Why?"

"He's dead."

"Really? No wonder why you want to kill Robotnik."

"He didn't kill him."

"Oh… then how old was he?"

"26."

"So young? What happened to him?"

_**Flashback  
**_

"Wow! Tikal was so cool! She's the only person who doesn't hate me. I gotta remember my promise, no matter what." The young Rudolph said happily with gee as he ran home. But on the way, he felt a familiar energy, "Dad? Cool! Maybe I could meet up with him!" Rudolph said as he changed his direction and headed towards his father. But once he was close to his father, Rudolph saw that his father was being held up by three dingoes and was bleeding immensely with one dingo standing in front of him. Staying quiet, Rudolph slowly got as close as he could, hiding behind a bolder. "Dad…"

"Where is it!?" The leader shouted.

"I don't know what you're talking about." His father said resulting in the leader punching him in his stomach causing him to cough up blood.

"Now answer me! Where is the Chaoskey!!? We know your it's guardian! Once we have it, we can start destroying every echidna until we control this entire land!"

"Dad…" Rudolph whispered to himself. "You know where the Chaoskey is, it's in my room, just tell them."

"Where is it!?"

Rudolph's father grinned as he slowly rose his head, "You won't find it."

"Oh really?' the dingo said as he pulled out a revolver. "You got 'til the count of 3 before I blow your brains out! How about that!?"

Rudolph quickly step forward, 'No son!' and then he then instantly stopped in his tracks.

"D-dad?"

'Yes Rudolph, it's me.'

"1!!!"

'I don't have much time.'

"Dad just tell them where that Chaoskey is so you can go."

'They'll kill me either way if I do."

"2!!!"

'Rudolph, I love you and your mother so very much. Please take care.'

"Dad!"

"3!!!!" **BAM!!!!**

Silence ran over the desert as his body felt lifelessly to the ground.

"Damnit!" One dingo yelled. "Now I got blood all over me!"

"DADDY!!!!!!" Rudolph shouted causing the dingo to turn their attention to him. Quickly, the four dingoes pulled out guns and began firing at Rudolph forcing him to run leaving his dad's body behind. From then on, Rudolph didn't stop running, even long after the dingoes stop chasing him, he kept going. He couldn't stop, every atom in his body was telling him to run, run, don't stop running. By the time he made it back to his home, his body was too weak to move, but tears kept flowing from his eyes. His mother soon opened the door and to her shock found Rudolph lying on the ground in tears.

"Rudolph! Rudolph honey, what's wrong!? What happened!?"

"Dad! He's gone!"

"Gone? What do you mean?"

"I saw them! They killed him!" Rudolph wailed in his mother's arms. "DADDY!!!!"

Later that night both Rudolph and his mother were crying in his room, holding on to each other as tightly as they could. But soon both were unable to cry any longer.

"Rudolph…" his mother whispered receiving no answer. "Rudolph, I'm going to bring us something to eat. I'll be right back, I promise." Then Rudolph's mother quietly left the room leaving Rudolph sitting on his bed.

"Why… why…" Rudolph asked himself as he walked over to a chest in the side of his room and pulled out his glowing Chaoskey. "Dad… why… why did this have to happen…" Rudolph asked himself as he gripped his birthright and the room slowly began to dim and a green aura began to form around him. "Why… why… why… why… WHY!!!?" Rudolph screamed as he gripped his head, his eyes began to glow green, and his aura begun to explode shaking the very foundation of his building, even causing the ground around his entire village to tremble. Then suddenly Rudolph found himself staring at a large group of dingoes in the middle of the desert. The hundreds of dingoes turned to the small brown boy who was engulfed in a green aura and all quickly drew weapons.

"Who the hell are you!?" One dingo shouted but Rudolph didn't reply.

Then a very large and muscular dingo walked over to Rudolph, "Hey you dirty echidna, just who are you anyway?" he asked as he grabbed Rudolph by his head. Rudolph's glowing green eyes quickly narrowed and he suddenly disappeared then reappeared behind the dingo and kicked his head off his body. As his head rolled on the ground, Rudolph landed on the ground and turned back to the other dingoes that stood in horror.

"Who is this kid?" one dingo asked until he noticed the relic in his hand. "That kid has the Chaoskey!"

The leader, the same dingo from before stood up, "So that's where it was, huh? I guess the old man thought we wouldn't hurt some kid to get a hold of it, think again!" The Dingo laughed as Rudolph placed the Chaoskey around his neck. "Take it from him! Rip it from his neck! Kill him!" he shouted causing everyone to charge towards Rudolph, but everyone who came in contact with his green aura completely disintegrated causing the others to turn around and run in fright. "Where do you think you're going you pussies!!!?" the leader yelled until he turned around and stood face to face with the raging boy. As he began to back away, the dingo tripped and fell on his back, utterly terrified. "Please don't hurt me!" he begged.

Hearing this only caused Rudolph's fury to increase, "You don't deserve forgiveness." Rudolph said as he rose his free hand and placed it in front of the dingo's face. "None of you do." Then a chaos energy ball shot from his hand that completely engulfed the dingo, obliterating him. Then Rudolph rose his hand to the crowd of dingoes that was still in a frenzy and in a bright green flash, every single dingo in the area was gone from existent.

Rudolph walked through the desert until he found the body of his father. Rudolph looked over it carefully, and then Rudolph placed his father over his shoulder and began walking. Soon Rudolph was within the Land of the Vultures and there he left his father's body in their care and left with only a promise to uphold his duty over anything else. Rudolph simply walked across the desert and back to his home where his mother lay in his room crying over her missing son. But once her eyes laid sight on Rudolph, she grabbed a hold of him and clutched him tightly in her arms.

"Rudolph! Where have you been?" She asked through her tears.

"I killed them." He said quietly. Slowly, Rudolph's mother pulled Rudolph far enough away to see his face. Rudolph stood there, cold and emotionless, looking at his mother. "Those dingoes, they won't be harming anyone anymore. They're all dead, I made sure of it." Rudolph said calmly as his mother stared at him. She quickly drew him into a hug with Rudolph returning it.

_**Flashback End**_

"Wow… I'm sorry." Sonic said as he began to sulk.

"It's alright." Rudolph said simply.

"Well that would explain why the dingo population suddenly got smaller."

"Yeah, even though I tried to keep it a secret, my tribe could sense my leftover energy where I killed them, so they knew it was me."

"So I guess that means they begun to like you right, and stopped beating you up?"

"They stopped attacking me, but it was more out of fear than respect. Everyone was afraid of me because of how powerful I was becoming after I started training. I was able to complete trials that would take everyone weeks in a few hours. But even though they stopped trying to hurt me, they would always keep their distant and would say things behind my back." Then after a short pause, Sonic began chuckling, and then went into a full blown laugher.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh it's not you!" Sonic said as he tried to calm down. "It's just that everyone I meet seems to never have friends. Tails was made fun of cause of his two tails. Knuckles' dad left him all alone on Angel Island to guard the Master Emerald, Amy was abandoned by her family and left in an orphanage, Shadow's family was killed by gun, and Blaze was made fun of and feared because of her powers and now you. I feel like Dr. Phil without actually trying."

"Yeah well at least you always people who care about you, your family, and friends."

"At least your mother was there for you."

"She was the only person who ever cared."

"And besides, you'll always have your friends to watch your back."

"I told you already, I have no friends." Rudolph said as he turned away.

"What!? Then what does that make me!?"

Rudolph snapped his head towards Sonic, "W-Wha?"

"What does that make me? We're friends right?" Rudolph couldn't help but look at Sonic in disbelief. "Are we?" Sonic asked waiting for an answer.

"I… I don't know."

"Well that means I am your very first friend, right?" Sonic asked with a grin. "And don't think for a second I'm your only friend. Tails, Blaze, Knuckles, Shadow, all my friends, they're yours too you know?" Sonic said as he turned to his sleeping friends. "Don't forget, Tikal wants to be your friend too. She cares a lot about everyone, even you." Hearing this, a smile began to form on Rudolph's face.

"Thanks… Sonic."

"No prob!" Sonic grinned. "Now we should get some rest."

"No its ok, I'll stay up and watch over everyone tonight."

"Are you sure? Shadow can do it for you. After all, he is the supposed Ultimate life." Sonic said as he turned to Shadow who was leaning on a bolder. "That guy doesn't need to sleep, eat, or drink anything. As a matter of fact… I've always wondered if he even breathes." Sonic said as he scratched his chin.

"It's fine, just remember, tomorrow we take down Robotnik's stronghold and take back my Chaoskey." Rudolph grinned as he cracked his knuckles.

"Yeah! Damn right!" Then a yawn came from Sonic as he rubbed his eyes. "Well Rudy, good-night and sleep t- never mind. Later!" Sonic waved as he jumped down the cliff side, rolled up in his sleeping bag and went to sleep. Rudolph turned back to the night sky and his smile widened as each and every star in the world seemed to glow brighter than ever before.


	13. Chapter 13

Hours went by as Rudolph sat on the cliff with his arms folded, guarding his friends keeping them safe from harm. But then Rudolph heard a very small screech, but enough to throw him into alert. He quickly opened his eyes, stood up, and peered at the desert and could see something very, very small, but could tell it was moving. Rudolph turned back to his sleeping friends, and then jumped down the cliff and ran to face the intruder. "If he gets any closer, he'll wake them; I gotta try to stop… whatever it is." Rudolph said to himself. As he got closer, he could see a large metallic tyrannosaurus making its way to the direction of the sleeping team. But as the machine made its way to Sonic and his friends; it came across Rudolph who was standing in its path. "I will only say this once so listen up!" Rudolph shouted. "Turn around, and go back to your master." The mechanical t-rex just roared at his order, "Wrong answer." Then Rudolph jumped into the air and punched its knee causing the robot to fall sideways, and once its head was close enough, he punched its face causing it to fly back several feet before hitting the ground creating a crater on impact. Once Rudolph landed, the large t-rex stood up and roared. "That thing is way too close as it is. I hate to draw out fights anyway so I'll make this quick." Rudolph said as he leapt into the air. The metallic tyrannosaurus saw Rudolph leap in to the air and opened its mouth to swallow Rudolph. He just grinned as he slipped right into the machine's mouth and was swallowed whole. After Rudolph was completely engulfed, the t-rex began its original mission and headed to Sonic and his friends. But before it could get far, a green light began piercing its armor randomly, and then the metallic tyrannosaurus blew up in a green explosion that shook everything in its wake. Soon Rudolph landed on the ground unscathed in the least and walked back to the campsite, but once he reached the site, he saw that everyone was stirring and waking up to see Rudolph.

"Hey Rudy." Tails said with a yawn. "What happened?"

"Just another attack, but I took care of it." Rudolph said as he looked at Tails, "You can go back to sleep."

"No need, look." Shadow said as he walked over to the group and pointed to the sunrise. "The sun's coming up, we should get going anyway."

"Guess so." Rouge said as her and the others stood up and packed their belongings.

But then everyone heard, "Hmm… zzz… yeah… another… please… zzz…" when they turned to its direction, they saw a sound asleep drooling Sonic.

Shadow walked over to Sonic and kicked his side, "Wake up dumbass!" but Sonic didn't flinch.

Tails sighed "It would take food to wake him up."

"I got this." Blaze said as she crouched down next to Sonic and crested his cheek. "Sonic… honey, I've made your favorite… chilidogs."

"WHERE!!!!?" Sonic asked as he quickly jumped to his feet and running in place. "Where!? Where!? Where!? Wherewherewherewherewherewherewherewherewherewhere!!!!?"

Blaze stood up and grabbed Sonic by his cheeks, "Sonic, there are none."

Sonic quickly stopped and frowned, "That's a dirty trick."

"Come on Sonic." Tails called as everyone was packing their things. "We're leaving early so we can take down Robotnik!"

"Aww can't we have breakfast first? I'm starving!"

"But what about Rudy's Chaoskey?" Knuckles asked. "We gotta get it back for him."

"It's ok," Rudolph said quietly. "We should eat first anyway. Need to keep our strength up right?"

Hearing this, Sonic was already sitting down, ready to eat, "Yeah!!! Let's get our grub on!"

Before long, the team was all on their way to Robotnik's base in the sky. "We'll be there shortly." Rouge said over her transmitter.

"How long Rouge?" Tails asked.

"Umm about 30 minutes at this speed.

"Hear that Rudolph!?" Sonic asked, "We're almost there!"

"Good." Rudolph replied as he stared out at the scenery. But then Rudolph saw a flying vulture in the distant. "Tails, stop the plane." Rudolph saw calmly without turning away.

"Why?" Tails asked.

"NOW!!!" Rudolph shouted scaring everyone.

"What!? What's wrong!?" Sonic asked. But Rudolph didn't answer, instead he forced the cockpit opened, leapt from the jet, and ran towards the vulture.  
As he got closer, the vulture suddenly fell from the sky with Rudolph catching him before he could hit the ground. When Rudolph caught him, he stared at the bleeding vulture in his hands. "What happened!?" He asked.

The vulture barely opened his eyes, "S-someone… a… a human… he…" Rudolph grip tightened as he stared at the vulture in his hands as he left this world. Rudolph stood up and ran forcing Tails and the others to follow in the X-Tornado. Once they were close enough, Sonic quickly jumped off the jet and ran next to Rudolph.

"Rudy! What's wrong!? What happened!?"

"I have to go, they're in danger!" Rudolph yelled as his speed began to increase.

'Whoa!' Sonic thought. 'He's doing 420, he's really bookin! Whatever happened must be important.'

In little time, the group was within the fog that surrounded the village where they left Tikal but Rudolph didn't bother putting up and energy barrier. He and Rudolph dashed through the fog with their friends following close behind. Once they reached the ending cliff, both Rudolph and Sonic simply hopped from pillar to pillar making their way to the Land of the Vultures. Once, landed, they found the parts of the village somewhat destroyed with many hurt warriors scattered about. Rudolph franticly checked everyone for survivors.

"They're alive… good." Rudolph whispered to himself as Tails and the others got out of the jet. "Sonic!" Rudolph called. "Help he get everyone to the inside of that temple in the middle of the village!"

"Got it!" Sonic called with a grin. "Hey guys! Come'ere and help me!" Sonic called and in no time, every vulture was within the entrance to the temple.

"Ok, I'm sorry but only I can go any further." Rudolph said calmly as he picked up Mathias and carried him into the temple. But then Rudolph heard footsteps behind him and when he turned, he saw Sonic and Knuckles carrying other vultures. "What are you doing? I told you you're not allowed in here."

Sonic just grinned at Rudolph, "Yeah well, there's no way you could get these guys to wherever you're taking them all by yourself."

"But-"

"No buts. And besides, that's what friends are for."

Hearing this, a smile slowly grew on Rudolph's face. "Fine, pick up the pace then."

Sonic turned to Knuckles, "Knuckles… did he just tell ME to speed up?"

"Yeah why?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic couldn't help but laugh, "Fine then!" Sonic shouted, then suddenly, and blue haze blew pass both Knuckles and Rudolph too many times to count. By the time the two enter the room, each and every vulture was all on the ground side by side with Sonic looking at the ancient hieroglyphs on the golden walls. Then Sonic turned back to Rudolph and Knuckles with a grin,

"Hey guys, what took you so long?"

Rudolph and Knuckles just stared at Sonic until Rudolph turned to Sonic, "How did he do that?"

"No one knows."

Then Rudolph and Knuckles quickly placed the last two on the ground and slowly, the group and the carvings on the walls begun to glow a bright gold color that alit the room in a blinding light. As the light dimmed, all the vultures begun to stir with Mathias being the only one to awake.

"Rudolph… you're back. That's good."

"Lord Mathias, can you please tell me what happened, and where's Tikal?" Rudolph asked as he knelt down next to Mathias.

"A human took her, we tired our best to protect her but we were no match for his machines." Mathias said quietly. "Once we were all unable to defend ourselves, he began to torture us, starting with me." Hearing this, Rudolph clenched his fist. "He kept asking about the secrets to the Chaoskey…" Rudolph slowly turned away and Mathias noticed this. "You don't have it, do you?"

"I'm… I'm sorry."

"Rudolph… if he succeeds, you know what will happen to the world."

"Yes."

"Then you must stop him at all cost, understood?" Rudolph nodded in response. "Leave us here, are wounds have healed but the pain still resides, we will be of no help. If the human has discovered the true power to the Chaoskey, then…"

"Don't worry, I'll handle it." Rudolph said as he stood up leaving Mathias to rest.

"Hey Rudy," Sonic called. "What did he mean by the true power of the Chaoskey?"

Rudolph sighed then turned to Sonic and Knuckles. "It's on the walls."

Both Sonic and Knuckles turned to the walls, "What? This chicken-scratch?" Sonic asked until he saw Knuckles take a few steps back in terror. "What!? What does it say!?"  
Knuckles fell back as he read, "Los titulares de la llave, tomar la mano y la liberación de sólo un alma pura que ha sido libre de dejar el mal forma física. Instar ¡para formar lo que es la luz y la oscuridad, la liberación y obligado romper los límites de todo lo que el control de tu mundo y que lo libre."

"Ok… what does that mean?" Sonic asked confused.

"Holders of the key, take hand and release for only a pure soul which that has been untainted by evil leave physical form. Urge thyself to form that which is light and darkness, release the bound and break the limits of all that control thy world and set it free."

"What does THAT mean?" Sonic asked again.

Rudolph turned to Sonic. "It's a ritual."

"What kind of ritual?"

"If anyone of god-descent such as a guardian or… of royal blood… sacrifices themselves to the Chaoskey, their body and soul will become a gateway that will open the realm to the Chaos Force allowing the initiator of the ritual will gain complete access to the Chaos Force receiving powers of a god."

"WHAT!!?"

"Rudolph…" Knuckles whispered as stared blankly to the floor, "Why didn't you tell us before?"

Rudolph turned away, "I thought Robotnik wouldn't find out and I could get the Chaoskey back… but now… I'm not sure."

Sonic stood there completely silent until he turned to Knuckles, "Hey Knux come on, get up." Then he turned to Rudolph "We have to save her." Then Sonic walked out with Knuckles and Rudolph following. Once the three reach the entrance, everyone could tell there was something wrong.

"Sonic, what wrong?" Blaze asked.

Sonic looked at his friends, "Tikal's in danger, and we have to everything and anything to stop Robotnik, got it!?" Sonic yelled with everyone nodding. "Good, now this time, we gotta stop Robotnik no matter what!" Sonic said as he and the others ran to the X-Tornado.


	14. Chapter 14

The X-Tornado tore through the sky like a piercing hot knife through butter as it headed towards Robotnik. "Rouge!" Sonic called through the turbulence. "Are we getting close yet!?"

"Yes!"

"Then how come we can't se it yet!?"

"It has a cloaking device!"

"Aww damnit! How are we gonna catch what we can't see!?"

"No worries!!" Tails called as he pushed a button and a red scanner shot from the tip of the plane and scanned the entire area in front of them. Before long, a ship closely resembling a larger version of the Eggcarrier instantly appeared in the sky! "Got you!!!" Tails called.

"Yohohoho!!!" A voice called through his intercom. "You never cease to amaze me Tails!"

"Robotnik!!!" Everyone shouted.

"That's right, but it's too late, none of you will be able to stop me!"

"You won't be saying that after we kick your ass!" Sonic yelled.

"Fine, challenge me if you dare!"

"You'd better believe it!"

"Then say hello to my defense system!" Robotnik shouted. At that moment, thousands of hatches open from all around the floating headquarters and began firing millions of red lasers.  
"Everyone hold ONNNNN!!!!" Tails shouted as he began whipping the X-Tornado in many directions, barrel-rolling, nose-diving, quark screwing, doing whatever it took to keep away of fire and stay alive. Within minutes Tails was closing in and was getting ready to return fire. But then suddenly, a huge electrical current expanded from the floating headquarters and the jet suddenly malfunctioned causing everyone to free fall from the sky.

"Tails, what happened!!!?" Sonic shouted.

"An EMP!!! I've lost all control!!!"

"What!!?" Knuckles shouted. "Don't you have a backup system or something!!?"

"That got shut off too!!!"

'_No!' Rudolph thought as he hung to his seat for his life. 'Sonic… Tikal… everyone…'  
_

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Robotnik laughed from within his control center.

"Hmm I would love to just see them fall to their deaths, but I'm not going to take that chance this time." Then the mad scientist grinned as he slammed his fist on a button. Sonic and his friends turned to the floating base and saw the front hatch open to relive an extremely large cannon that was charging for an attack.

"AH SONIC!!!" Tails called in fright.

"It's preparing an attack!!!"

"But we can't get away!!!" Rouge shouted.

_No… my friends…  
_

"This is IT!!!"

"FIRE!!!!" Robotnik shouted as his cannon fired it's huge, life shredding beam at Sonic and his friends.

"I WON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!!!!" Rudolph shouted as his eyes begun to glow green and everyone suddenly disappeared as the X-Tornado blew to pieces on impact of the beam. Soon the smoke cleared and Robotnik watched as pieces of the jet fell from the sky.

"YES!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did it!!!!" Robotnik shouted with triumph. "Now then… princess… since your so-called friends are no longer in my way… how about we get started on that ceremony… shall we…?"

"Whoa!!!" Sonic shouted as everyone stood up and saw that they were on some kind of metal surface but also still in the air. "What the hell was THAT?"

"Teleportation." Rudolph said quietly with everyone turning to him.

"You did that?" Shadow asked.

"Yes."

"So you used Chaos Control." Knuckles asked.

"No. I literally deatomized all of our bodies and reatomized them here. Complete teleportation." Rudolph said as he turned to a large door.

"Where are we?" Blaze asked.

"On his aircraft." Rudolph said as he pulled open the door allowing the others to go inside. Inside, the team walked into a room with three different doors on each wall.

"Ok…" Sonic said to himself. "I guess we're gonna have to split up." Then Sonic turned to his friends. "Ok here's the plan-"

"Whoa!!" Shadow interrupted. "YOU have a plan? I'm shocked."

Blaze turned to Shadow with a glare, "This isn't the time."

"Ok… We're gonna have to split up so… Knuckles, Rouge, since you two are pretty good treasure hunters, you guys take the door to the left.

Knuckles and Rouge looked at each other then sighed. "Fine, I'll deal with Knuckles."

"The feeling's mutual." Knuckles huffed.

"Ok… then team two will be… Shadow and Blaze, take the right."

Both Blaze and Shadow stared at Sonic, "Are you sure Sonic." Blaze asked with confusion.

"Yeah, you guys are pretty fast and you can watch each other's back."

Blaze couldn't help but smile, "Alright."

"And that leaves me, Tails and Rudy… HEY! Where is that guy anyway!?" Sonic asked as everyone quickly took a look around.

"I think he bailed." Tails said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Can't he sense the Chaoskey?" Knuckles asked as he looked around.

"Damn, I forgot he could sense that damn key." Sonic said as smacked his head. "Well he could have at least said something."

"Oh well," Rouge interrupted. "Let's just stick to the plan."

"You're right." Sonic said. "Alright, you guys ready?" Sonic asked receiving a nod.

"Oh wait, I got something here." Tails said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of nickel sized earpieces. "Here, we can use this to keep in touch."

"Always thinking ahead, eh buddy?" Sonic grinned.

"Just thought they would come in handy." Tails said with a smile as everyone put their pieces in.

"We should get going." Knuckles said. "Tikal's still in danger, you know?"

"Right." Sonic said seriously with everyone following suit. Then everyone turned to the respective exits. "See ya guys." Sonic grinned then everyone took off.

"So Tails," Sonic begun as the two ran through the hall, "Do you have some kind of tracking device that we could use to find Rudy's key?"

"Sorry Sonic, but my radar was destroyed along with the X-Tornado."

"Oh well." Sonic sighed.

"So Blaze," Shadow begun as he and Blaze ran through the hall, "Sonic… he's cool with us… with me… right?"

Blaze smiled, "I believe so."

"Good."

"You see Sonic as your bestfriend, don't you?" there was a pause before Shadow nodded his head. "I thought so."

"Whatever you do, don't tell him that."

"Fine, but like Sonic would say, you owe me."

Shadow huffed with a smile, "Fine."

"So where to batgirl?" Knuckles grunted.

"How should I know Knucklehead!?" Rouge yelled.

"You said you found this place, you didn't even bother at take a look inside?"

"No!"

"Figures."

"What was that!!?" Rouge said as she pushed Knuckles into a crate of boxes that tipped over and broke causing the alarm to go off. "Great!!! Look what you just did!!!"

"ME!!! You're the bitch who pushed me into the boxes!!!"

"What did you say!!!?" Rouge shouted as she grabbed Knuckles by his shirt. But then, the two looked down the hallway and saw hundreds of eggpawns rushing in their direction carrying spears and laser guns.

"HEY!!!" Sonic shouted over the transmitters. "Who set off the goddamn alarm system!!?"

Knuckles put his hand to his ear, "Blame the batgirl."

"Why you!"

"Rouge calm down!!!" Shadow shouted as he and Blaze leapt into the air and Blaze shot a fireball at the oncoming group.

"S-sorry." Rouge said as he flew into the air to avoid an oncoming attack with Knuckles charging into the robot horde. "Are you ok?"

"We're fine, but a little busy with Robotnik's little drones." Shadow simply said as he shot a Chaos Spear at a group of eggpawns.

"Yeah!" Sonic yelled as he and Tails spin attacked through a flock of robots, "You're not the only one!"

"What are we going to do?" Tails asked as he flew into the air and kicked Sonic into a line of eggpawns. "Should we re group?"

"No." Shadow said after he homing attacked a few robots. "If we're all together, then they have us right where they want us."

"So we're just going to stick with the original plan?" Knuckles asked as he punched the ground sending a shockwave destroying many eggpawns.

"That's the plan." Sonic said as he charged through more robots.

Rudolph dashed through the maze of hallways making his way to the center. 'This way!' He thought as he made a left, 'Tikal… please hang on! I'm coming! I won't let that crazed man hurt you.' But then after he turned the corner, he looked down the hallway and saw hundreds of eggpawns waiting for him. "Get out of my way!" Rudolph shouted causing the eggpawns to instantly jump on top of him, engulfing his body in machinery. But then the eggpawns were suddenly destroyed in a green light as Rudolph walked out of the pile. Rudolph slowly walked up to a very large steel door and his eyes widened. "The Chaoskey…"

"Hey, did you guys feel that?" Knuckles asked over the transmitter.

"Feel what?" The running Sonic asked.

"That… I know where Rudolph is!!" Knuckles shouted.

"Where Knuckles!?" Tails asked as he and Sonic ran from their robotic pursuers.

"He's close to Blaze and Shadow!"

"He is?" Shadow asked.

Blaze trusted her arms forward and a large fireball began to form in her hands. "If he's close, then we have no time to waste. Let's hurry and find him quickly." Then Blaze shot off the fireball that literally took up the entire hallway and as it flew down the hallway, it incinerated every robot in its path. Once the fireball disintegrated, Blaze and Shadow ran down the hallway.

"Alright Tails," Sonic called to his friend with a grin, "Whadda say we ditch these guys?"

"All for it Sonic." Tails called back with a smile.

Sonic then jumped into the air with a back flipped, "Up, over, and STREAKING!!!!" Sonic shouted as he landed and both he and Tails took off down the hallway, breaking the sound barrier, knocking all the robots behind them down.

"OK THAT"S IT!!!!" Knuckles shouted as he held up his right fist and used his left hand to hold his shoulder. Then suddenly, yellow electricity began surging from his right fist. "THUNDER ARROW!!!" Knuckles shouted as he thrust his fist forward sending a lightning bolt flying down the hallway annihilating everything in its path. After the devastation, Rouge simply came down from within the air.

"Wow Knuckles."

Knuckles just brushed the smoke off his clothes and grinned. "Yeah well, you know."

"You could have done that so much sooner!" Rouge shouted in his face.

"Well you were NO HELP!!!!" Knuckles shouted back.

"Will you two focus!!!?" Sonic shouted over the transmitter, "We still have a job to do!"

"When did you get so serious!?" Rouge asked.

"Tikal could die! We need to hurry!" instantly, Knuckles and Rouge dashed down the hallway as fast as they could.


	15. Chapter 15

"This is where my Chaoskey is…" Rudolph said as he stared at the door. Then Rudolph wined back his fist, and threw it straight at the door sending it flying allowing Rudolph to run inside. But once inside, what he saw frightened him beyond belief. He was within a very large room and to his right he saw the same human from before, the psychotic evil genius, Dr. Robotnik sitting in a control station. But in the center… floating within a large glass orb with tubes running from the orb… he saw the screaming Tikal as electricity surged through her burning her fur as the Chaoskey was forcing itself through her fur and into her skin on her stomach.

Robotnik turned to the falling door and saw none other than the same echidna from the night so many days before. "YOU!!? What are you doing here!!?"

But Rudolph didn't hear him, every ounce of his being was fixated on Tikal. Without thinking, Rudolph dashed for Tikal as fast as he could, leapt in the air and charged through the glass grabbing Tikal and plunging through the glass on the other side. Rudolph looked over the horribly damaged echidna in his arms, praying she was still alive, but slowly, Tikal began to open her eyes.

"Tikal… can you hear me?" Rudolph asked.

Slowly a smile form on her face as she made eye contact with him. "Ru… Rudolph… I-I knew… you'd come… you promised… right…?"

"Yeah, I promised. I'm here Tikal, I won't let him hurt you again."

"Mathias warned… me about… the Chaoskey… it belongs… to you… I… fought it off… for you…" Then Tikal's eyes closed as she lost consciousness leaving Rudolph to stare at her body.

Sonic and the others soon found the main entrance and saw the back of Rudolph who was kneeling on the ground clutching Tikal in his hands. Sonic turned to Robotnik who was slamming his hands his control pad.

"ROBOTNIK!!! How could you!!!?" Sonic shouted causing Robotnik to turn to Sonic and his friends in fright.

"But-but-but I killed you!" he stuttered. "I saw you die! How can you still be here!?"

"You're really gonna wish you'd killed me after I'm done with you!"

Robotnik quickly ran along the pipes that were attached to the floating orb, which led to an incredibly large robot which was at least 10 stories tall. He quickly opened a door on the shoe, walked inside, and appeared with the head of the machine. "Alright Sonic! I've absorbed enough energy from the brat and the Chaoskey to power my suit to combat even your super form! Try and stop me if you can!" Robotnik laughed as his machine pulled itself from the wall.

"Robotnik!!!" Sonic shouted but then suddenly, the room began to dim and a small green glow could be seen. When everyone turned to the glow, they saw the light was emitting from the kneeling Rudolph then suddenly, a huge force emitted from the brown echidna as his green aura expanded and exploded with power.

"YOU!!!!!" Rudolph growled. When he turned his head, eyes which were glowing a piercing green was fixated on Robotnik who took a few steps away in fright. "HOW DARE YOU!!!" Rudolph growled as he slowly rose from the ground still holding the unconscious Tikal in his arms.

"Wh-what is he!?" Robotnik asked as he stared at the raging boy.

"Do-do you guys feel that?" Knuckles asked in disbelief. "The pressure he's emitting is beyond belief."

"Yes." Shadow with just as much shock as everyone else. "It's taking everything I have just to stand. How could one person generate this much power?"

"Guys," Tails wined. "It's so hard to breathe."

"It's the force coming from him." Blaze spoke. "His power is burning the very air itself."

Rudolph slowly turned around glaring at Robotnik. "Nice light show kid." Robotnik grinned. "But there's no way you can stop me now! Hand over that girl, and I'll make your death painless." Though Rudolph didn't flinch, his eyes narrowed as his power increased again blowing much more force in every which direction.

"Damn!!!" Sonic shouted over the roar of Rudolph's aura. "How much power does he have!!?" But then suddenly, the force stopped allowing everyone to move freely. When everyone looked to Rudolph, his green aura flared and roared as if his every ounce of rage and fury were being poured into it. Then Tikal quickly vanished from his hands and reappeared in Sonic's hands.

Rudolph slowly turned to Sonic and his friends "Take her as far away from here as possible." Then Rudolph turned back to Robotnik.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!" Robotnik laughed. "You got balls kid! Thinking you can take me on all by yourself!" Rudolph didn't move irritating Robotnik. "Alright then!!! I'm coming for you!!" Robotnik shouted as his machine dashed for Rudolph preparing a punch, but when its fist made contact, though Rudolph didn't move out of the way, he didn't flinch on impact scaring Robotnik and everyone else. Rudolph instantly disappeared, and reappeared in front of the chest plate of Robotnik's mecha and punched him sending him flying into a wall. Robotnik was quick to pull himself out his hole and rushed towards Rudolph.

"THAT'S IT NO MORE GAMES!!!!" Robotnik yelled as his robotic fist charged itself with energy and swung it at Rudolph who in turn, leapt into the air dodging the attack. But as he Rudolph was in the air, both of Robotnik's robotic fist drew themselves into their arms and in their place came out two large barrel blasters. When he aimed for Rudolph and fired, Rudolph instantly vanished, then reappeared behind Robotnik with his hands aimed for his back. When Robotnik turned around, Rudolph shot a green energy beam that blew Robotnik into the ceiling. And after a moment, Robotnik fell to the ground before Rudolph. "You…" Robotnik growled. "Don't worry, I'll get you." He said as his machine suddenly grabbed Rudolph and held him in the air and to Rudolph's surprise, he was unable to free himself. "HA!! Struggle all you want! This machine was designed to absorb any amount of Chaos Energy and with every one of my robot's limbs made up of a Chaos Syphons, I can absorb your power in a matter of moments!" Slowly Rudolph's roaring aura began to fade but was still flaring as he tried to break free. "Hmm I didn't think you would have so much power. After I'm done with you, not even the all powerful Master Emerald will be able to stop me!!!"

Sonic turn to Shadow and placed Tikal in his hands, "Shadow watch her for me. He can't do this alone." Then Sonic turned and dashed for Robotnik.

"I'm coming with you too!" Tails called.

"Count me in too!" Knuckles shouted as the two of them ran to catch up with Sonic. Once the three were close, they all jumped into the air and rammed Robotnik with a spindash knocking him over, dropping Rudolph in the process.

Robotnik was quick to regain his balance as he turned to the trio. "You dirty pieces of shit!!!" And at that moment, both Sonic and Knuckles ran up to Robotnik's machine and attacked its legs causing him to fall forward. Then Tails running at full speed, backflipped in the air and using his two tails, knocked Robotnik onto his back.

"Hey Rudy." Sonic called to Rudolph who was just getting to his feet.

"Ugh, I thought I asked you to watch Tikal?" He asked as his power returned to its peak.  
Sonic just grinned as he turned back to Robotnik, "Heh, and when did I ever listen to you?"

Then Robotnik quickly picked himself up and glared at the four. "I'm… going to enjoy killing you."

"Bring it on!!!" Sonic shouted as everyone leapt for Robotnik. Robotnik swung his arm for Tails but the arm was block by leaping Knuckles leaving him wide open for Sonic to kick Robotnik's chest causing him to tip off-balance allowing Rudolph to attack his legs forcing him back. But before Robotnik could fall and hit the ground, he quickly activated his boosters and lunged himself for the airborne Knuckles. But at that very moment, Rudolph jumped in the air and screwdrived him straight into the ground. Then as Knuckles landed, he took a hold of Robotnik, and threw him into the air and while he was airborne, both Sonic and Tails cross-spindashed Robotnik before he hit the ground. Robotnik struggled to get to his feet coming face to face with the suddenly appearing Rudolph who kicked the robot into the wall.

"I'm not… beat yet… I will rule this world… I will have power." Robotnik said as he tried to lift his arms.

"Give it up!" Sonic shouted with a grin. "You can't beat us!"

"You may be able to protect yourselves… but what about your friends?" Robotnik said as he pointed to Shadow, Blaze, Rouge, and the unconscious Tikal.

"Leave them alone!!" Knuckles shouted.

"TOO LATE!!!" Robotnik shouted as his hands turned into laser cannons and shot at the unsuspecting group creating a huge explosion. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles stood helplessly staring at the explosion but once the smoke cleared, everyone was completely unharmed with Rudolph standing in front of the group with more power than the previous moment. "H-h-how!?" Robotnik stuttered as he stared at Rudolph who stared back with eyes more sinister than ever before.

"YOU WANT POWER!!!!!?" Rudolph shouted as he raised his hands towards Robotnik. "THEN TAKE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!!!!!" Then an incredibly large green beam shot from Rudolph's body and headed straight towards Robotnik blowing him through multiple walls until he was blown into the engine core destroying it.

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles quickly ran to Shadow and the others, "Are you guys ok?" Sonic asked as the ship began shaking.

"We're fine but we better hurry." Rouge said as she looked around while everyone tried to keep their balance. "This place feels like it's going down!"

"Then let's hurry." Rudolph said as his power slowly diminished and he returned to his original state.

"Fine, let's get out of here!" Sonic yelled as he and everyone ran for the exit. But as the team reached an exit, it was sealed off by a door.

Knuckles stood in front of the door and wined back a fist. "Stand back everyone!!!" but when he swung his fist at the door, he didn't even leave a dent.

"Wow Knuckles." Rouge said sarcastically "Can you do that again?"

"Shut up!" Knuckles shouted back.

"This isn't the time for this!" Blaze shouted. "We need to find another exit."

"But if this exit is blocked off…" Tails began. "Then the others are more than likely blocked off as well."

"Damnit!!!" Sonic shouted as he slammed his fist together. "What are we going to do now?"

Rudolph looked at Tikal then turned to the door. "Everyone stand back if you don't want to die."

Everyone looked at Rudolph with confusion before Sonic spoke up, "Hey bud, thanks but you're not as strong as Knuckles so trying by yourself really won't get us anywhere."  
"We don't have much time so hurry up and get out of my way!" Rudolph yelled causing everyone to move behind Rudolph. Then Rudolph put up his hands,

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" then Rudolph shot a blast from his hands that destroyed the door but once the smoke cleared, there was another door behind it. "ERRRRR!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Then Rudolph fired a green beam that pierced through every door and wall in front of him until it lead outside.

"WOW!!!" Sonic said as he stared down the path of destruction. "Alright! Let's go!" Sonic shouted as everyone ran as fast as they could through the path. But as he turned to his friends, Sonic saw Rudolph on the ground and ran over to him. "Hey, you ok?"

"I'm… fine. Let just get out of here." Rudolph said as he and Sonic ran through the path with their friends. Once outside, they quickly realized the aircraft was in fact free falling from the sky.

"What do we do now?" Tails asked.

Sonic quickly looked around, "Shadow you could use Chaos Control, right?"

Shadow shook his head. "I can't. Chaos Control is warping at high speeds. If I were to use it to get us to the ground, we would exit falling at the same velocity that we're falling at now."

"Damnit bad idea. Blaze what about Sol Manipulation?"

Blaze shook her head as well, "It works with the same properties as Chaos Control. What if Tails and Rouge carry us?" Blaze asked.

Rouge sighed, "I'm flattered you think I'm that strong but I couldn't carry everyone off at once and we're falling way too fast for me to make two trips."  
Rudolph quickly looked around and saw a small mountain in the distant. 'It would take all the energy I have left…' Rudolph thought but then looked at Tikal then his other friends, 'But I have no other choice.' "Everyone." Rudolph called getting everyone's attention. Then he held out his hand. "Put your hands together." Everyone followed his orders and put their hands together with Rudolph's. The aircraft hit the ground with so much force that it could be felt from across the desert.

On a mountain several miles away, everyone suddenly appeared on a ledge. Everyone turned to the direction of the explosion of Robotnik's aircraft and cheered.

"Yeah Rudy!" Sonic cheered, "Way to go! Now that's thinking…" but Sonic instantly stopped when he saw Rudolph lying lifelessly, face down on ground. He quickly ran to his side as he rolled him over and shook him causing everyone to turn their attention to Sonic and Rudolph. "Hey Rudy! You alright!? Come on wake up!" Rudolph slowly began to stir relieving the blue hedgehog and his friends. "Whoa buddy… you gave me quite a scare."

Rudolph weakly opened his eyes, "Is… Tikal ok?"

Shadow walked over to Rudolph and knelt down showed him Tikal, "She's fine."  
A small, weak smile appeared on his face, "That's… a relief…" then Rudolph passed out in Sonic's arms.

"Man…" Knuckles sighed. "I guess that last move took everything he had. He must be exhausted." Sonic slowly placed Rudolph's arm over his shoulder and Knuckles quickly place the other on his. "Here, let me help."

"Thanks." Sonic smiled. "So where do we go from here?"

Knuckles looked over to his left, "Angel Island is that way. We can heal ourselves there."  
Then Tails pulled out his phone. "I don't have much power, but I'm going to send Cream a text to meet us at Angel Island."

Sonic grinned, "Cool." And with that said, everyone began walking towards Angel Island.


	16. Chapter 16

Several hours later as the sun began to set, the group was still walking towards Angel Island when Rudolph began to awake. "Oh look." Sonic called. "It looks like sleeping beauty's finally awake."

Rudolph slowly looked around and saw that he was being carried by both Sonic and Knuckles. "Sonic… Knuckles… you can put me down. I can walk."

"Are you sure?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah you still look out of it." Sonic said.

"I'm fine, you can let me down." Rudolph said quietly. Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other and slowly let Rudolph off of their shoulders but as soon as they let go, Rudolph fell to the ground causing everyone to stop and turn around.

"Are you ok?" Tails asked as he went to Rudolph's side.

Sonic knelt next to Rudolph, "Here, let me help you up."

"I fine." Rudolph said as he tried to push himself up but both Sonic and Knuckles picked him off the ground. "What are you doing?"

Sonic just grinned as the group continued, "When are you going to get that friends help out friends no matter what?"

"I…" Rudolph began. "I don't want to be a burden."

"After saving our asses you're worried about us carrying you? We can't do everything by ourselves; we all need help every now and again." Rudolph just smiled as he allowed his friends to carry him. Before long, everyone stopped walking causing Rudolph to look around.

"What's wrong?" He asked weakly.

Knuckles turned to Rudolph with a smile, "We're here."

Rudolph looked at Knuckles with confusion. "Where's here?"

Sonic grinned as he turned to Rudolph, "Angel Island buddy."Rudolph's eyes widened as he turned his head upward to see the floating island in the sky. "We can heal you and Tikal here."

A smile instantly formed of Rudolph's face. "Really? Then what's taking so long?"  
Sonic turned to Knuckles, "Come on bud, you heard him. Get us up there."  
Knuckles just grinned back at Sonic, "Ok… Chaos Control!!!" then suddenly in a flash, everyone was standing in front of the Master Emerald Shrine which held the all-powerful Master Emerald with the 7 Chaos Emeralds standing on a pillar which surrounded the shrine. "Ok, Rudolph you're going-"

"No!" he yelled weakly causing everyone to turn to him. "Tikal should go first."

"Uh… Rudolph… I was going to say you're going WITH Tikal. The Master Emerald can heal more than one person you know?"

"Oh… sorry." Rudolph said as he began to blush.

"Alright Shadow, place Tikal in front of the Master Emerald, and Sonic help me put Rudolph next to Tikal." Both Sonic and Shadow followed his directions and placed both echidnas in front of the large gem and Knuckles stood in front of both, "Here goes; The severs are the seven Chaos, Chaos is power, power is enriched by the heart. The controller is the one who unifies the Chaos, please Master Emerald, heal the injured princess and my friend!" Then the Master Emerald began to glow brightly as both echidnas began to be engulfed in the same bright light. Then slowly the light dimmed and reviled two perfectly healed echidnas with Rudolph being the first to get up.

But the second he got to his feet, he quickly knelt down next to Tikal. "Tikal, wake up." Then slowly, Tikal eyes began to open and Rudolph stared happily at her.

But then Tikal quickly drew Rudolph into a hug which he gladly returned. "I knew you would save me, I knew it." She whispered as she clutched him tighter. But as the two withdrew from one another, both found themselves being stared at with smiles and grins causing the two to quickly pull apart out of embarrassment. Then the two stood from the alter and Tikal bowed, "Thank you, thank you everyone one for saving me. If there is any way I can repay you please let me know."

Sonic just grinned as he gave a thumbs-up, "Don't worry about it! As long as you're ok, then we're all ok, right guys?" Sonic asked receiving a nod from everyone. "Oh wait!" Sonic said as he turned to Rudolph. "Dude I'm sorry about your key."

Rudolph shook his head, "It's ok, we just have to get back to the crash site as soon as possible."

"But there's no need." Tikal said as she reached into her dress and pulled out the Chaoskey. "I have it right here."

Rudolph instantly turned to Tikal in disbelief, "B-b-but how? I didn't even sense it."

"I used my energy to mask its power. Here, it's yours." Tikal said as she handed Rudolph the Chaoskey.

Rudolph just smiled as he placed the Chaoskey back around his neck. "Thank you, thank you so much Tikal. You put your life on the line for me… I owe you everything."

Tikal just blushed as she smiled. "I'm owed nothing more than your friendship, Rudolph. As long as you're happy and safe, then I'm happy."

Then suddenly, a jet flew right over the island startling everyone. "What the hell!?" Shadow shouted as everyone ran down the alter and saw the X-Tornado land several feet away.

"What the…" Sonic said in confusion. "I thought the X-Tornado got destroyed by Robotnik?"

Then when the cockpits opened, Cream, Amy, and Julie-Su all jumped out, "Hi Tails!" Cream called.

"Hi Cream!" Tails called as he ran up to her. "Glad you got my message."

"I'm sorry we couldn't be here sooner by Eggman Nega tried to attack the city again."

"So you stopped him?" Blaze asked as she walked up to her.

"We all did, right girls?" Cream asked with a smile as she turned to her friends.

"Yep!" Amy grinned. "We had a little trouble but no worries, especially on my part."

"So Knuckles…" Julie-Su said softly as she walked over to the red echidna, "Why didn't you take me with you to find the princess?"

"I'm sorry, but you weren't around at the time and we were in a hurry, sorry."

"Well next time come and find me," Then Julie-Su walked over to Tikal. "Princess we should get you home right away."

"Sure."Tikal said with a smile.

"I guess this is where I take my leave." Rudolph said as he turned away with everyone turning to him.

"Where are you going?" Tikal asked as she grabbed his arm.

Amy walked over to Sonic, "Who's this guy?"

"Him? Oh that's Tikal's crush." Sonic grinned causing both echidnas to blush.

"OH!" Amy said with gee. "Tikal, is he your boyfriend!?"

Hearing this, Rudolph began to stumble on his own feet. "I-I'm not her boyfriend! We're friends!"

"Are you sure?" Sonic asked with his grinned widening.

"Look!" Rudolph shouted cutting Sonic off. "I have to go. Tikal is safe, I have my Chaoskey, but I still need to find my tribe, they're within a secret forest and I must locate them as soon as possible. Thank you all for helping me, but I must leave right away." Rudolph said as he turned.

"Wait!" Tikal called. "You still didn't fulfill your promise to my father!"  
Rudolph stopped then turned back to Tikal, "What are talking about? I rescued you and now you're safe. I don't want to cause any more trouble."

"But you promised to bring me back to my home, remember? If you leave now, then you'll be going back on your word, and you've never done that before… and you're not going to start now are you?"

Sonic folded his arms as he cooed, "Wow Rudy, she wasn't even there and yet she knows what you promised her."

Rudolph sighed then walked back to the group, "Fine, I gave my word, so I guess I have to keep it."

"Great." Tikal nodded.

"So what are we waiting for?" Sonic asked as he ran over to the new X-Tornado. "Let's get back, I'm freaking starving here!"

"Well I'm leaving." Shadow said as he began to walk away. "My mission's over. There's no need for me to be here anymore."

"I guess I'll go too." Rouge said as she went with Shadow. "I did my job, now its time to reward myself." She said with a smirk.

"Remember what I told you." Rudolph called causing her to turn around. "If any of the vultures see you again, they'll make sure to have you over for dinner." Rouge shook slightly after hearing this and took off in the air almost instantly throwing Sonic, Knuckles, and Rudolph into a laughing frenzy.

"Damn dude!" Knuckles laughed, "We gotta keep you around! I've never seen her so scared before in my life!"

Amy, Cream, and Julie-su stared at each other then Amy turned to Tails, "What are they talking about?"

"It's a long story." Tails sighed.

"Well…" Sonic said trying to catch his breath. "We might as well get a move on."

"It's a good thing we extended the X-Tornado, huh Tails?" Cream asked with a smile as everyone walked over to the jet.

"Yeah, with the extra cockpit, everyone here can fit in, plus with all the new upgrades, it's the fastest thing ever to take to the skies."

"I'm driving!" Sonic shouted as he took the keys from Cream.

"What!!? No way! It's mine!" Tails yelled as he chased Sonic.

"Nuh uh! You owe me a Tornado anyway!" Sonic called back as he ran from Tails.

"Remember when you crashed my red one?"

"Give it back!"

"No!"

"Give it back!!!"

"No!!!"

"GIVE IT BACK!!!"

"NO!!!"

Everyone just laughed at the two as they went back and forth.

"Tails," Sonic called as he sat on the wing of the X-Tornado, "How long 'til we get there? We've been flying for hours and its dark out."

"Stop whining Sonic." Amy called from within the second cock pit, "God you're such a child sometimes!"

"It's not fair. I should be driving. We would've been there in half the time."

Tails sighed as he mumbled, "You would've killed us all in half the time if you drove."

And instantly, Sonic was on Tails' window scaring the boy, "I heard that! Don't forget who use to fly planes in this partnership and who use to ALWAYS crash them!" Tails laughed uneasily as Sonic just grinned to confirm his victory but as he was standing there, a fireball whizzed by his face. When he turned to its source, he saw Blaze glaring at him with steam rising from her body and Sonic quickly jumped back on the wing in fright.

Rudolph stared down at Tikal who feel asleep in his arms, 'She's been through so much… I just wish there was something I could do for her. But this will be the last time I see her… its what's best for the two of us… we're two completely different people living two completely different lives. If I try to maintain our friendship… it may only end up hurting her… I can't do that… not to her… she's so kind, caring, and innocent… but Tikal… I give you my word that no matter what… where ever you are in the world… don't be afraid… I will come and save you… I swear it.'

Soon the group finally made it to the echidna grounds with everyone sleepily getting out of the jet with only Rudolph teleporting out of his seat and onto the ground.

"Dude," Sonic began. "Why didn't you just jump out?"

"Lower your voice." Rudolph quickly snapped. "I don't want to wake her."

"Well let's go." Knuckles said as he walked over to front gate.

But once they reached the front gate, the two echidna guards saw Tikal being carried by Rudolph and quickly ran over to him with spears in hand. "Drop her!!!" they shouted, but Knuckles quickly punched the two guards in their stomachs and they quickly fell to the ground.

"Go on ahead guys, I need to have a word with them." Knuckles said as everyone walked through the gate and he grabbed them by their shirts. "Where is the king?"

"H-he took a search party to go find the p-princess." One stuttered through his pain.

"Well until he gets back, don't say a word about Tikal's return. Her father should be the first to see her." Then Knuckles walked off to catch up to the others.

"Wait!" One guard called. "Why are you protecting him?"

Knuckles turned just slightly, "Because no matter what his fur color, he's an echidna just like us." Then Knuckles turned to catch up with his friends.

"That's where Tikal lives." Sonic said to Rudolph as he pointed to a large temple-like pyramid. Rudolph just stared at her home with awe, "Yeah it's pretty huge, huh?" Rudolph nodded. "Well we're staying at Julie's house, you wanna come with?"

"I should put Tikal to bed." Rudolph said as he turned to Sonic. "But I'll be back afterwards, ok?"

"Yeah sure."

"Wait." Rudolph called, "Where is her room?"

Sonic grinned, "Uh… that room right where the balcony is." Sonic said as he pointed up the building.

"Thanks." Rudolph said as he disappeared in a flash and reappeared in her room. As he looked around her dark room, Rudolph could barely make out an outline of her bed. "Uh… I think that's it." Rudolph said quietly as he walked over to the bed and set Tikal down, but after he placed her down and tried to pull away, he realized that he had placed Tikal down on his arm. "Oh shit." Rudolph whispered as he tried to pull away but Tikal rolled closer to him, "Damnit. I can't get free, and I can't transport without taking her with me in this position." He grunted as he kneeled on her bed and pulled harder causing Tikal to stir. "Damnit. I can't move my arm without waking her. What am I going to do?"

But then suddenly Tikal grabbed his jacket and pulled him closer to her with Rudolph freezing in fright as she whispered, "You… can't… promised… me…"

But when he turned to her face, he could tell she was still sound asleep. 'Damn that was too close for comfort!' Rudolph thought, 'She's so strong, I can't get free.' Rudolph sighed in defeat. 'Oh well, if I just wait, her grip should loosen and I should be able to get loose.'


	17. Chapter 17

The next morning, Tikal began to stir causing Rudolph to awake as well. As the two stared at one another, they realized that they were holding on to each other and Rudolph quickly pulled away with his face resembling that of a cherry. "I'M SO SORRY!" Rudolph said as he jumped out of her bed. "I was just trying to put you in your bed but you held on to me and I couldn't get free! I know I should've moved but I didn't-"

"It's ok." Tikal whispered causing Rudolph stop and look at her. "I was wondering why I was so warm last night, I guess I have you to thank." Tikal said with a small blush causing Rudolph to blush even harder.

'She's… she's not mad at me…' Rudolph thought. "Eh, no problem." Rudolph grinned as he scratched his head.

Tikal smiled as she got out of bed, "I need to freshen up, I think I smell."

"I don't. I think you smell wonderful." 'Why did I say that!'

Tikal's blush began to deepen, "Oh! Thank you, but I'll be right back and afterwards, maybe we could have breakfast together."

"Sure that would be great." Rudolph said with a large smile receiving one from Tikal as she stepped in her bathroom. "Damnit! What am I thinking!" Rudolph said as he slapped his head. "I need to leave before I stir up more problems for her. If her father sees me HERE of all places in the world, there's no telling what he may do to me." Rudolph sighed as he began to walk around Tikal's large, pure white room filled with flowers in vases and pictures everywhere whether photos or drawn by what seemed like a child. As Rudolph looked over her pictures, his eyes were locked onto one picture… which had two echidnas, one tan and the other brown, standing in a field flowers. 'Does she remember?' Rudolph asked himself as he stared at the picture. 'No, she couldn't, she would have said something by now.' But then suddenly, Rudolph heard a gasp and once he turned around, he saw a pink female echidna staring at him in shock. "This isn't what it looks like."

"W-who are you?" She asked as she took a step back.

"I'm one of Tikal's friends, miss."

"Rudolph!" Tikal called with gee as she stepped out of the bathroom wearing a long silk sky blue dress. "How do I look?" Rudolph couldn't help but stare as a blush slowly crept onto his face.

"PRINCESS!" The maid called as she took a hold of Tikal and pulled her into a hug. "I heard you were back but I didn't believe it! But it's true you're finally home!"

"Yes I'm back and there's no need to worry anymore." Tikal said with a smile but then the maid quickly turned to Rudolph.

"Who is he, princess?"

"This is Rudolph, he was one of my friends who rescued me."

The maid was quick to stare at the young princess, "Really?"

"Yes really."

"Oh… well it is a pleasure to meet you Rudolph." The maid said as she bowed.

"Please don't bow to me." Rudolph said in embarrassment. "Wait, what did you mean you heard she was back?"

The maid had a look of confusion on her face. "What do you mean? Everyone knows of the princess' return. Everyone is waiting to see her."

"See her?" Rudolph asked in confusion.

"Look outside." Both Tikal and Rudolph walked over to the balcony window and saw that every single echidna out of the entire kingdom cheering for Tikal as she entered the daylight.

"Wow." Rudolph said as he looked around. "Look at everyone. They were really worried about you, Tikal."

"Yes and now I can show them that I'm perfectly fine." Tikal said as she opened the window walked towards the railing, then Tikal turned to Rudolph, "Would you please come with me?"

"I… I shouldn't…" Rudolph said as he turned away but then felt Tikal grab his hand.

"Its ok, as long as we're together, no one will hurt you." Rudolph slowly nodded his head as he stood behind Tikal as she looked out onto the cheering crowd. "Everyone! Can I have your attention please! I just want to thank my friends for rescuing me from the evil Dr. Robotnik."

And as she looked onto the crowd she noticed Sonic and her friends cheering with the crowd. "And I would also like you to thank those individuals as well; they are Sonic the hedgehog, Miles Prower, the Master Emerald Guardian, Knuckles, my new friend, Blaze the cat," Everyone cheered as they turned to the waving group. "And I would like to thank a very special person who risk his life many times to keep me unharmed, my friend Rudolph the echidna." Tikal smiled as she stepped to the side and pulled the terrified Rudolph to the balcony.

Everyone in the crowd quickly grew silent as the crowd stared at the brown echidna until Sonic and his friends began clapping. And slowly, other echidnas joined them and in no time, every single echidna was cheering for Rudolph.

Rudolph stared out onto the crowd and slowly a smile formed on his face and he turned to the smiling princess. 'Tikal… no one in the world could be as kind, pure, and as beautiful as you.' Rudolph thought as he glazed at the echidna princess. As the two stared at one another, Rudolph suddenly kissed Tikal throwing everyone in the crowd into shock. Noticing the silence, Rudolph quickly came back to his senses and pulled from her and franticly looked onto the crowd with everyone resuming their cheering. Rudolph turned to Tikal in shame and he ran from her, through her room, jumped down the entire 20 stories and ran out the back door and into the desert without turning back.

Rudolph ran and ran, he couldn't stop, every fiber in his body was forcing him forward. "Why! Why Damnit! WHY!" Rudolph shouted as he ran further into the desert. But then suddenly, a blue haze appeared circling Rudolph forcing him to stop. Once Rudolph stopped running, the blue haze disappeared and Sonic stood standing in front on him. "Get out of my way, Sonic!" Rudolph shouted.

"Why should I?" Sonic asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "And more importantly, why did you run from Tikal?"

"It's none of your business!" Rudolph yelled.

"Yes it is! Look we all know that you like Tikal, its time you go back to her and explain yourself."

"I don't have to explain myself to anyone!" Rudolph shouted as he took a step forward.

"Now get out of my way!"

"I ain't going nowhere!"

Then Rudolph rose his arm and aimed his hand at Sonic, "Move, or die!"

"Do you really want to abandon the one person you care for that much?"

"I told you to move!" Rudolph shouted as green ball appeared in his hand.

Sonic stood still as a smile formed on his face. "You're not gonna shoot me."

"Don't test me!"

"I'm not gonna move." Rudolph glared at Sonic as he fired his blast. Right after his blast was fired, a huge explosion appeared blowing smoke in every which direction. Once the smoke disappeared, a mountain that once stood several miles away was now gone from existent with a grinning Sonic still standing firm. "Told you so."

"Just get out of-"

"Rudolph!" Someone called from behind him. When Rudolph turned around, he saw Tikal running towards him. When he turned around again, Sonic was gone but before he could take another step, Tikal was already right behind him panting. "Rudolph… why?"

"I'm sorry, I should have never kissed you."

"Why did you run from me?" Rudolph never turned to her; he wouldn't dare look at her. He couldn't, not after what he did. He gave himself false hope, he disrespected Tikal, her father, her people, how could he even beg for forgiveness. "Rudolph… please… answer me."

"I… I can't… I can't be with you… no matter what."

"Who says?"

"Everyone Tikal… everyone… I'm despised by everyone… by my people… and yours… I… I won't ruin your happiness to keep mine."

"Rudolph…" Tikal whispered with a smile. "You haven't changed, have you? You're still the same sweet little boy that I met all those years ago."

Rudolph turned to Tikal in disbelief. "I… I thought…"

"You thought I didn't remember didn't you? Well I do Rudolph, I do. I still remember that day, how we laughed, talked, played in the flowers. Rudolph, I know you care for me… just like I care for you. You don't have to be alone anymore, I love you Rudolph, I really do and I promise to do whatever it takes to make you happy." Rudolph couldn't understand it, but he was crying. He hadn't cried since his father's death all those years ago, the pain from that sight forced away all of his emotions after his father's death leaving him alone. He never understood what it was like for others to care about him, but now he had someone who truly cared for him, who loved him despite what he was, someone who could look beyond his shell and see him for what he truly was. Suddenly, Rudolph was unable to hold himself up any longer as fell to his knees with tears rolling down his cheeks. He clutched Tikal's dress as he wailed with Tikal holding him. "Its ok Rudolph… you've been through so much… please let it all out. I'm here for you… and I won't leave you ever."

After minutes which seemed like an eternity, Rudolph slowly grew silent as he stood up, wiped the tears from his eyes, and looked into Tikal's eyes. "Tikal… I…"

But Tikal quickly placed her hand over his mouth, "Whatever you do, please don't apologize."

"I was going to say that I wanted to stay with you… if you'll let me."

Tikal instantly pulled Rudolph into a hug, "Of course!"

Rudolph returned the hug with a smile, "Thank you princess."

Tikal just giggled, "Call me Tikal, ok?"

"Only if you call me Rudy." Tikal looked t Rudolph and he sighed, "Yeah I know, Sonic kinda grew on me."

Hearing this, Tikal couldn't help but smile as she turned away pulling Rudolph. "Come on, we should get back."


	18. Chapter 18

"WHAT!" Pachacamac shouted as he rose from his throne at the two echidnas that stood before him.

"You heard what we said." Rudolph said calmly. "I'm staying with Tikal."

"We love each other father." Tikal said as she took Rudolph by the hand. "I hope you understand."

"Oh I understand alright!" he yelled. "I understand that he has somehow brainwashed you my daughter! But do not worry, you will be separated so that he can never influence you ever again! Guards!" Pachacamac shouted as his solders instantly surrounded Tikal and Rudolph.

"Take this brown echidna away from m daughter at once!"

But before they could take a step, Tikal yelled, "Stay where you are! Do not harm him!"

Every guard looked around at one another before Pachacamac shouted, "What do you think you are doing! You are under MY command! Now seize the brown echidna at once!" And on his command, every guard rushed for Rudolph only to be stopped by a sky blue energy field. When Rudolph turned to Tikal, she was silently praying and glowing the same sky blue color. When she opened her eyes and turned to Rudolph, the two of them smiled at each other and then turned back to Pachacamac.

"Father, can't you see?" Tikal began. "Despite our looks, our ideas, our beliefs, all echidnas are alike. There's no reason for this hatred, this violence, this discrimination. Its time for this to stop once and for all."

"Please Lord Pachacamac, try to understand," Rudolph began. "No matter what our differences, we are the same. Even if we don't seem like it, we are."

"The same!" Pachacamac shouted. "How can…" but then Pachacamac stopped as soon as he noticed the relic hanging from his neck. "The… Chaoskey…" Hearing this, Tikal dropped her barrier. "Explain yourself! How do you have the Chaoskey! That belongs to the Holon family!"

Rudolph looked down at his birth right and he held it in his hand. "This item use to belong to my father."

Pachacamac stopped and stared at Rudolph as if he were in a trance, "You-you're father…? Malark is you're father?"

Rudolph instantly glazed towards Pachacamac, "You know my father?"

"He… he was my closest friend… my best friend… he disappeared so long ago… I never knew he started a family… with the Southern Tribe." Pachacamac spoke quietly as he stared towards the ground.

"See father," Tikal said quietly with a smile as she walked towards he father and hugged him. "Even your closest friend was able to see the good in Rudy's people, don't you think its time for us all to come together as one people and rid of this awful segregation once and for all?"  
Pachacamac looked up to his daughter, then to Rudolph. "I… I believe so."

"Then sir," Rudolph began as he knelt before Pachacamac, "Can I ask of a favor?"  
Pachacamac looked down to Rudolph and a small smile began to form. "Yes, anything you want my boy."

"Rudolph… where are you?" A black female echidna asked herself as she clutched her chest and stared out into desert as she leaned on a tree.

"There's no way he's alive Queen Diana." One black echidna said as he walked to her side. "We all saw our village, what ever had enough power to do that much damage had enough power to finish him along with it as well." Diana remained quiet, "And either way, I say good reddens. If he wasn't smart enough to leave when he had the chance then he dissevered to die." But the very instant he ended his sentence, he was held up by his throat by the angered female.

"DON'T YOU EVER SPEAK OF MY SON IN SUCH A WAY EVERY AGAIN! UNDERSTAND!" She shouted with the male nodding in fright. "Good." She said as she dropped the echidna. But as the echidna knelt on the ground coughing, his glaze instantly turned to the desert. When she followed his glaze, she saw what looked like an army of Northern Kingdom solders heading straight for them.

"How! How did they find this place!" The male echidna asked as he stood up.

"It doesn't matter, assemble the troops! If they want a war, then they got one."

Before long, the Southern Tribe's army was ready to face the on coming threat with their queen leading them. But as they began to close the gap, though Diana is unable to sense Chaos Energy, she could feel a familiar presents, and as she peered closer to the on coming army, she could see her son, Rudolph leading them. Diana instantly dropped her weapon and ran as fast as she could to her son, pulling Rudolph into her arms in tears. "Rudolph! I knew you were alive."

"Yeah mom, I'm just fine." Rudolph said as he returned the hug. "And look what I got." Rudolph said as he pulled away from his mother to show her the Chaoskey.

"That's my son. You would make your father very proud." But then Diana turned to the army behind Rudolph. "Rudolph, why are they here?"

"Lord Pachacamac wants a truce. This unarmed army is a sign of peace. Its time that we rejoined our two tribes into one."

"Really?" Diana asked in disbelief.

"Yes." But then the two were cut off by the sound of the screaming warriors as they charged for the unarmed Northern Kingdom army.

"STOP!" Diana shouted causing her army to cease running.

"Why did you order us to stop!" one echidna shouted.

"These people didn't come here for a fight. They want peace."

"They must be lying!" but then everyone noticed Rudolph standing in front of the army. "See! I knew it! He's betrayed us and now he wants to kill us all!" The leader shouted as everyone yelled with him and charged for the army of solders. But as they got close, suddenly a green transparent wall shot from the ground skyward preventing the armies from making contact.

"ENOUGH!" Rudolph shouted causing everyone to settle down. "Look! No one is fighting today! Its time that we stopped this idiotic and pointless violence once and for all! Can't you see, everyone… every single person behind me came here of their own free will with no weapons and no tricks to offer peace. We may be different due to our ideas, beliefs, and even our fur color, but in the end, we all live life the same way, to live a life of happiness and peace. We all want to end this, but let's end with peace instead of violence." Everyone stared at Rudolph as he slowly let down the barrier and they slowly loosened their forms. And just that moment, the remaining Southern Tribe members slowly made their way to the large crowd and a small black echidna child ran up to one of the warriors and stared at him. The warrior looked down at the child and slowly picked him up.

"Hello there." He said with a smile, "Do you want to go home?" The child smile and responded with a nod.

Rudolph couldn't help but smile and then he turned back to his people, "Now do you see? It's time that we went home, all of us."

Tikal's sight didn't leave the front gate as she awaited for Rudolph's return. As she waited, Sonic and his friends walked over to Tikal. "Hey Tikal." Sonic called, "What's up?"

"I'm just worried about Rudy." Tikal said without turning her attention from the desert.

"I'm sure he's fine." Knuckles said as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "After all, it's barely past noon. It'll take awhile before he returns."

"But what if his people don't want to come?" Tikal asked as she stared towards the ground. "What if they shunt him like they did in the past?"

Sonic just grinned, "I wouldn't worry if I were you."

"What do you mean Sonic?" Tikal asked as she turned to the blue hedgehog.

"Just look." Sonic grinned as Tikal turned her attention to the incredibly large crowd of echidnas heading towards the kingdom.

"Looks like he did it." Tails said as he peered out onto the desert.

"Damn! That's a lot of people!" Sonic cooed.

"It doesn't matter." Knuckles grinned, "We have enough room here to fit them all."

"That's good to hear." Then Sonic turned to Tikal, "Aren't you gonna go get him?" Tikal turned to Sonic with a smile and then ran towards the crowd.

"Rudolph!" Tikal called as she ran into the echidna's arms.

"Hey remember what I told you." Rudolph said with a smile.

"Oh yes, Rudy." Tikal responded with a smile.

"Rudolph," Diana began as she stared at Tikal. "Who is she?"  
Rudolph turned to his mother with a smile, "This is the princess of the Northern Kingdom. Her name is Tikal."

Diana just stared at the two, "Why is she holding you?"

Instantly, both Rudolph and Tikal began to blush, "Well mom, I… well we're… together."

"I see…"

"Are you mad?"

"Not at all." Diana replied with a smile. "I'm glad you've finally found someone to spend the rest of your life with."

Tikal could help but smile as she tightened her hold on Rudolph, "Thank you so much."

Rudolph just smiled as he walked to the entrance with everyone following him. Once he reached the main gate, he could see Sonic and the others waiting for him, "What are you guys doing here?" Rudolph asked with confusion.

"Waiting for you, what else?" Sonic said with a grin.

"I'm surprise you didn't leave by now."

"Heh, as soon as this treaty goes through, I'm out of here. I hate staying in one spot for too long."

"Heh well then good reddens." Rudolph replied with a grin matching Sonic. Then Rudolph turned to his mother, "Pachacamac is expecting us, we shouldn't be late." Then everyone made their way through the streets of the kingdom until they came to the entrance of Pachacamac's castle with Tikal, Rudolph, and his mother entering the building. As the three entered, Pachacamac stood waiting for them standing in front of a desk with a piece of paper on it.

As Diana walked up to Pachacamac, she herself noticed the document on the desk and stared at Pachacamac, "What is this?"

"This… is an agreement, stating our alliance."

Diana stared at Pachacamac before she sighed, "Fine. It seems fair enough." But before she could reach for the paper, a green energy ball shot the treaty, igniting it on fire. When everyone turned to the direction where the shot originated, they could see Rudolph holding his hand towards the desk.

"Rudy," Tikal began as she looked towards him, "Why did you do that?"

"There's no reason for it."

"What are you talking about?" Pachacamac asked as he stepped towards Rudolph. "That treaty was suppose to be our sigh of peace."

"If you really want to establish peace, then some stupid peace of paper isn't going to change anything. We need just need to get rid of this idiotic segregation and announce our reunion and peace with one another."  
Pachacamac and Diana stared at one another before they turned to Rudolph, "Will do it your way then."

"Good, is there a way to get everyone to come to the palace gates as soon as possible?"

"Actually everyone should be outside right now."

"Really?"

"Yes, I made an announcement for everyone to report here so I can present the treaty."

"Well its time you made a new announcement. Don't you agree?"

"I guess I have no choice." Pachacamac said with a smile as he walked over to the front door with Tikal following him.

"You know," Diana began. "You're not a bad diplomat. You'll be a great ruler one day."

"I just want what's best for my people, it's what dad would want."

"And now you're making his dream a reality." Diana said as she hugged he son. "I know he would be so proud of you."

"Thanks mom." Rudolph said with a smile as he returned the hug. "We should be out there."

"Then let's go bring your father's dream to life." Diana said with a smile as she and Rudolph walked out the doors to see every echidna of all colors, shapes and sizes, all waiting for Pachacamac to speak.

"Everyone silence!" Pachacamac called with everyone slowly soon becoming quiet.

"Father," Tikal whispered. "You didn't have to be so rude."

"Sorry. Everyone, thousands of years ago, our tribe stood together as one, one passion, one single heart beat, and yet we let our ideas or religion fuel our rage and desire to hurt one another and force ourselves away from each other until we ended up where we are today, on opposite sides. Now though we still share the anger and hatred that our ancestors had for each other, we can not forget that we all came from the same place, even if you won't emit it even to yourself, every single echidna here knows that we all are just alike. So let's start a new era, one where despite our different ideas, we can and will except and understand one another. Its time that we all rejoined as one race, one kind…" Then Pachacamac turned to his daughter, "… We owe it to each other and our children to give them as much happiness as possible, from now on, we ARE one race, one tribe once again." After Pachacamac finished, though it remained quiet throughout the kingdom, there was a warm feeling that everyone could feel as they looked at their counterparts and like Pachacamac said, slowly growing to understand each other though no words were being exchanged. "Now I think we should celebrate the reunion of our tribe."


	19. Chapter 19

"Now this is a party!" Sonic grinned as he and his friends, along with Rudolph and Tikal's parents all sat at a large table. "Nice job old man! You really know how to throw a shin-dig!"

"That means a lot coming from you, huh Sonic?" Knuckles grinned as he looked onto the crown of echidnas that were dancing, eating, laughing, and becoming acquainted with each other.

"What can I say, I'm hard to please." Sonic grinned, then he turned to Rudolph, "So what's next for you guys?"

Rudolph looked onto the crowd, "Rejoining our tribes, ensuring peace with the crows," Then Rudolph took Tikal's hand causing the two of them to smile, "Then just being happy."

"I can't wait." Tikal said with a smile.

"Well Rudolph," Pachacamac began causing everyone to turn to him. "Your mother and I decided that since you destroyed our treaty, we've come up with a new way to truly present our reunion."

"What?" Rudolph asked in confusion.

Diana turned to her son, "Remember when I said that you will become a great ruler someday?" instantly, Rudolph froze.

"I'm getting old my boy, I can't I can't look after my people forever, and not to be rude but everyone won't accept your mother becoming queen."

"So the two of us decided that its time for you and the princess to take the throne."

"After all, Tikal is sixteen, which is marring age. And I know that you're eighteen which means you're perfectly eligible to marry my daughter.

"B-b-but…" Rudolph stuttered, "I can't, what if no one wants me to become king?"  
Pachacamac just laughed, "After everything you've done, saving my daughter, bringing our tribes back together, I don't think any one here will have a problem with you becoming king."  
"Besides," Diana began. "Even though you yourself are the perfect example of our union, I think that the two children who are next in line from each side should take the throne. After all, I can tell that the two of you are in love, I think that it's a perfect idea."  
Rudolph turned away, "I'm not sure."

"Don't worry," Tikal said as she grabbed Rudolph's hand, "I stay beside you and I'll help you. We can do it together."

Slowly a smile began to form on Rudolph's face, "Ok, I'll do it."

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Sonic grinned, "When's the wedding gonna be?"

Rudolph and Tikal looked at each other and smile as they both said, "At the end of summer and the start of autumn." And after the two finished, they found themselves being stared at by everyone sitting at the table with them.

"Whoa." Tails said right after he swallowed his mouthful.

"Now that's weird." Sonic said as he stared at the two.

"I've never seen a couple so in sync before." Amy whispered to Cream.

"Thus the power of Soultouch." Knuckles grinned as Julie-su leaned on his shoulder. "It never seems to fail."

"You can say that again." Sonic grinned.

Rudolph just blushed as Tikal giggled and said, "I guess we were made for each other."

Then suddenly, an explosion was heard causing everyone to scream, panic, and run around in terror.

"What the hell!" Blaze shouted as she looked around hearing more explosions, "Sonic!" But before she could get the word out, he was already gone.

"Come on!" Knuckles shouted, "Let's follow him!" Then everyone took off after Sonic's blue after stream.

Rudolph turned to Tikal, "I need you to wait here."

"But-"

"No buts, I can't risk your safety." Then before Tikal could respond, Rudolph took off running. It wasn't long until Rudolph caught sight of the cause of the explosions. Everyone looked to the sky to see a floating object shooting missiles towards the kingdom. But right after the missile was fired, Rudolph quickly leapt into the air and shot the projectile destroying it. "What the hell is that thing!" Rudolph shouted as he landed on a rooftop with his friends. As the group peered closer to the object, they begun recognize the floating aircraft. "No… it can't be…" Rudolph whispered in terror.

"ROBOTNIK!" Everyone shouted as the evil scientist laughed from within his giant robot.

"I bet you never though you would ever see me again, did you!" Robotnik chuckled.

"I don't understand!" Blaze shouted, "How did you survive!"

"My mecha was able to absorb enough power from the Chaoskey to sustain and protect itself along with me from your pathetic attempt to annihilate me!"

"Well give up!" Sonic shouted, "You lost already! There's no way you're getting Tikal and the Chaoskey back!"

"Fine then, if I can't have it, then everyone here will be obliterated!" Robotnik shouted as he aimed his cannons towards the kingdom.

"OH NO!" Everyone shouted as the blast fired.

"I WON"T LET YOU HARM MY FRIENDS!" Rudolph shouted as he began to glow a violent green and suddenly, the entire region was covered in a gigantic green dome blocking the ray of destruction.

"WHAT!" Robotnik shouted as his blast died down. Once the beam was gone, the green dome quickly faded and Rudolph fell to the ground.

"No…" Rudolph said weakly as he struggled to push himself up. "I used up too much power."

Robotnik laugh from within his flying mecha, "Now with YOUR power completely drained, NO ONE can stop me!"

"Don't forget Egghead!" Sonic shouted, "You still got me to deal with!"

'I don't understand…' Rudolph though as he stared at Robotnik. 'How could he have absorbed the Chaoskey's power without Tikal sacrificing her life…? Unless…' Then Rudolph looked down at the glowing key, 'The Chaoskey has its own power too!'

"Sonic," Knuckles called, "There's little we can do right now. We need the Chaos Emeralds."

"But they're back on Angel Island, right?" Tails asked.

Sonic grinned. "Not really." Hearing this, everyone turned to Sonic in shock.

"You have them?" Amy asked.

"Well I took them from the alter and they're back in Julie's house."

"You stole the Chaos Emeralds!" Knuckles yelled to the blue hedgehog.

"Yeah, you can thank me later."

"Don't worry." Rudolph said as he stood up. "I'll finish this... I just hope I'm right."

"Right about what?" Sonic asked. But then Rudolph slowly clutched the Chaoskey with both hands and the Chaoskey began to crack. Then suddenly, the Chaoskey shattered into thousands of pieces and the floating pieces began spinning around Rudolph engulfing him in a bright gold light. After the light faded, Rudolph stood before everyone completely changed. His brown fur was now a strong gold and his black eyes were now a bright orange color. Then suddenly, the Chaoskey reformed around his neck as he stared up to Robotnik.

"I'll end this as quickly as possible." Then Super Rudolph slowly rose from off the ground then suddenly, shot like a bullet toward Robotnik, sending him flying even further away.

"DAMNIT!" Robotnik shouted as he caught himself and stared down the super powered echidna. "How can you use it's power!"

"Because, I'm its guardian, and of royal birth right!" Rudolph shouted back. But then suddenly, Robotnik began to laugh irritating Rudolph. "What's so funny!"

"If you're royalty, then that means I can sacrifice you to the key to gain ultimate power! I'll kill two birds with one stone!"

"Give it your best shot!" Rudolph shouted as he blasted Robotnik even further back.

"I intend to you rodent!" Robotnik shouted as he charged for Rudolph. Rudolph quickly dodged Robotnik's punch and tired to break his arm but was completely unable to. And before he could recover, Robotnik punched Rudolph sending him flying towards the ground. But before he could hit the ground, Rudolph suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Robotnik. And before Robotnik could react, Rudolph instantly punched Robotnik causing him to fly backwards. Then before Robotnik could recover, Rudolph placed both of his hands together and shot off a giant blast hitting Robotnik causing a huge explosion. But after the smoke cleared, Robotnik stood completely unharmed.

"What the hell!" Rudolph yelled in shock.

"Like I said, I HAVE MORE THAN EOUNGH POWER TO TAKE ON ANYONE!" Then Robotnik quickly dashed for Rudolph and before he could react, Robotnik punched Rudolph sending him flying like a meteor into the ground. And before he could pick himself up, Robotnik fired multiple energy balls at him engulfing Rudolph in an array of large explosions.

"Sonic!" Tikal called as she climbed onto the rooftop.

"Tikal," Knuckles called back, "You shouldn't be here!"

"You must help him, if you don't he'll die!"

"I'm on it!" Sonic shouted as he dashed down the building. Then suddenly, there was a bright flash and then Super Sonic flew into the sky.

"SONIC!" Tails called causing Sonic to stop.

"What!"

"You can't do this alone! Let's us help you!"

Sonic looked down at his friends, then aimed his hands at them and shot two balls of energy at Tails and Knuckles. After the light faded, Turbo Tails and Hyper Knuckles instantly flew up to catch up with Sonic.

"Tikal." Blaze said catching her attention. "Stay here." Then Blaze was engulfed in a bright light and transformed into Burning Blaze and took off to help her friends.

"Damnit!" Rudolph said as he struggled to pulled himself from his crater. "I can't damage him. This isn't good."

"Yes!" Robotnik shouted as he aimed his cannons at Rudolph, "That's it! Get up so I can knock you knock down!" But before he could fire, Super Sonic quickly charged into Robotnik's side forcing a misfire and sending him crashing into the ground. Both Tails and Blaze quickly flew to Rudolph's side and helped him up.

"Thanks you guys." Rudolph said as he took off his torn jacket.

"Don't worry buddy!" Sonic shouted from within the sky as knuckles flew next to him, "I got him!"

"GOT WHO!" Robotnik shouted as he dashed for Super Sonic and Hyper Knuckles.

"Bring IT!" Sonic shouted as he charged for the oncoming threat colliding with him sending shockwaves in every direction.

"That's not going to work." Rudolph said as he, Tails, and Blaze flew next to Knuckles.

"What are you talking about?" Knuckles asked.

"I hit him with everything I had but I had no effect." Rudolph said as he and his friends stared at the collision between Super Sonic and Robotnik. But then both Sonic and Robotnik were forced back away from one another sending Robotnik into the ground once again while Tails was able to catch Sonic.

"Thanks bro." Sonic grinned.

"Sonic," Knuckles called, "We're going to need a new strategy if we want to beat Robotnik's new machine."

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.

"We need to find a weak point." Blaze answered. "Otherwise, we'll just be wasting our time and energy."

"Ok. Rudy, did you see a weak spot while you were fighting him?"

Rudolph shook his head, "Sorry but didn't find one."

Sonic turned to the rising Robotnik Mecha, "Fine then, new plan! We distract Egghead until one of us spots an opening, then we fry him!" Sonic shouted as he and his friends rushed towards the airborne Robotnik.

Robotnik prepared for the attack, "Let's go you insects, I'll squash you!"

"Alright… BREAK!" Sonic shouted as everyone instantly separated, spiraling around Robotnik.

"Hold still!" Robotnik barked as he unsuccessfully tried to swat his enemies as they circled around him.

But as Sonic flew around Robotnik, he quickly noticed a crack in his armor in the center of the mecha's chest plate. 'That must of happened when Rudy blasted him into the generator!' Sonic thought as he stared at the Robotnik's weak point. "Hey guys! I found one!" Sonic yelled as he flew away from Robotnik and stopped about a mile away, "Try to hold him still for me!"

"On it!" Knuckles yelled as he went to grab one of Robotnik's arms. "Hey Tails, Blaze, Rudy! Help me out!" But right when Knuckles got a hold of Robotnik, Robotnik quickly using his free hand, grabbed Knuckles, and tossed him into the others.

"Damnit!" Knuckles shouted.

"Come on guys!" Sonic shouted as he kept flying to keep an eye on Robotnik's weak point. "I need to be at a perfect angle for this to work!"

"We need to try a different approach." Blaze said as she glared at Robotnik.

"I got an idea!" Tails shouted as he flew towards Robotnik.

"What is it!" Rudolph yelled at the flying fox.

"Just follow my lead!" Tails hollered back as he charged for the midair mecha. As Robotnik swung at the super powered kitsune, Tails quickly ducked under his blow and pressed his palm into Robotnik sending him flying. Then Tails suddenly held his hands in the air towards Robotnik and shouted out, "CHAOS CONTROL!" Then suddenly, Robotnik was completely frozen in the air unable to move.

"You little brat!" Robotnik yelled from within his cockpit as he struggled to break free.

"What the hell did you do to me!"

"I could use some help here!" Tails screamed as his muscles began to tighten. "He's breaking free!"

"Don't worry kid!" Knuckles shouted as he and Blaze flew over to Robotnik and he, Blaze and Tails formed a triangle around Robotnik, "We're on it! CHAOS CONTROL!"  
"SOL MANIPULATION!" Then the grip on Robotnik became to tighten as Sonic grinned.  
"Thanks guys, now hold him steady! I only got one shot!" Then the super powered hedgehog began spinning in place and began glowing a bright bluish gold.

"Whatever you're planning, IT WON'T WORK!" Robotnik roared as he summoned more energy, trying to break lose.

"NO! WE WON'T LET YOU WIN!" Everyone yelled through their pain as they struggled to hold him in place. But then suddenly, a green energy formed around Robotnik forcing him back into submission.

'What ever happens to me,' Rudolph told himself as he tightened his grip on the giant robot, 'I will protect everyone, even at the cost of my life.'

"NO!" Robotnik roared as his power increased tiring the others.

"SONIC!" Blaze screamed, "HURRY!"

"HOLD ON YOU GUYS!" Sonic yelled as he charged energy.

"I… I… I CAN'T!" Tails cried as his super form faded and he fell from the sky.

"TAILS!" Blaze hollered as she watched Tails fall to the ground. But due to the lost of focus, Robotnik used the opportunity to let lose a huge amount of force blowing the feline away again loosening the grip on Robotnik and increasing the strain on both Knuckles and Rudolph.

"SONIC!" Rudolph shouted, "We can't hold him much longer!"

"You have to hurry!" Knuckles shouted.

"I just need a minute!" Sonic yelled.

"IN A MINUTE, THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT OF THIS PLACE!" Robotnik roared as his strength increased even further putting even more of a strain on the two super powered echidnas.

"NO!" Knuckles screamed through his pain, "I CAN'T GIVE UP! NEVER!" But Knuckles' super form began to fade as he fell from the sky leaving Rudolph being the only one left to hold Robotnik steady.

"YOU'RE NEXT YOU WORTHLESS RAT!" Robotnik grinned as he could fell Rudolph's grip loosening.

'No… I can't give up…' Rudolph thought as his body began to fail him. But then an image of Tikal, his parents, Sonic, all his friends and everyone with his kingdom appeared in his mind. "NOOOOOOO!" Rudolph howled as his power roared crushing Robotnik's mecha together.

"OK! HERE I COME!" Sonic shouted as his bluish golden aura exploded and he charged for Robotnik at the speed of light, firing straight through Robotnik, blowing up his mecha. But due to the force of the explosion, Rudolph was sent hurling towards the ground…


	20. Chapter 20

'Ugh… my head… what the hell…' Rudolph thought but then suddenly, his memories began to catch back up with him causing him to jerk himself awake. But then as his eyes began to focus, he could see Tikal, his mother, Sonic and all his friends staring at him with relief.

"What happened?" Rudolph asked as he looked around, but then he found himself caught in a hug by the crying princess.

"Rudy! I so glad you're ok. I thought we lost you."

Rudolph just returned the hug as he looked around and noticed that he was in a bed. "What happened to me? Did we win?"

Sonic grin died down, "No man, we're the only survivors. And you've been out for two whole weeks."

"WHAT!" Rudolph yelled.

"Psych!" Sonic laughed. "Man you should see the look on your face! Totally priceless!" But then suddenly a green blast whizzed past Sonic's head blowing a whole in the wall behind him, ending his fun.

"Damnit." Rudolph moaned as he fell back onto the bed, "You're luckily I'm still dizzy you dumbass."

"That was for tricking us when we were in that fog." Sonic grinned.

"Sonic." Blaze scowled as she glared at Sonic. "That was not funny."

"Speak for yourself, that was hilarious." Sonic laughed.

"Just tell me what happened." Rudolph said weakly. "I know I saw Robotnik's robot blow up and that's about it."

"Well," Knuckles began, "After the explosion, a large piece of metal derby fell and hit you in the head. I guess that's when you blacked out."

"So… how did I survive the fall… how did any of us survive the fall?"

Tails looked over to Tikal, "Tikal used her powers to catch all of us before we ever hit the ground. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't be here right now."

Rudolph looked over to Tikal and smiled. "Thank you."

"Of course!" Tikal said as she hugged him tighter and brought him into a kiss causing everyone in the room to "ooo" and "aw" the two.

"'Bout time!" Sonic grinned. "I was wondering if you guys were going to make out or not."

"Can it Sonic." Rudolph said as he laid back down in his bed with Tikal giggling.

Diana smiled at her son as she said, "I think it's time we left you here to rest, Rudolph."

"Ok mom." Rudolph said as he closed his eyes.

Tikal turned to Diana, "Is it ok if I stay with him?"

Diana just smiled and nodded as everyone left him to rest.

Hours later, Rudolph finally began to stir and when he looked to his side, he could see Tikal still sleeping besides him. Rudolph smiled as he gave her a soft kiss, quietly slipped out of bed, and made his way to the hallway and up the stairwell. 'It's been a while since I looked at the clouds.' Rudolph thought as he opened the door to the roof. But as Rudolph entered the daylight, to his surprise, he saw Sonic laying down staring into the sky. "Sonic?"

Sonic perked up and turned around with a grin. "Well well, if it isn't Sleeping Beauty. Welcome to the world of the living."

"Shut up." Rudolph said with a grin as he sat on the edge of the building with Sonic following suit. "So is Robotnik coming back?"

"Doubt it."

"So he's dead?"

"Nah, I saw him fly off in his stupid little egg pod thing or whatever."

"So he will be back."

"Nope. When Robotnik fails twice at the same plan, he gives up and tries a new one."

"Great." Rudolph sighed.

"Hey, don't get so down." Sonic grinned as he gave Rudolph a slap on his back. 'Cuz as long as I'm around, he'll never succeed in his plans."

"Are you sure?"

"Totally dude! No need to worry."

"Cool." Rudolph said as his smile returned.

"Well now!" Sonic announced as he stood up and stretched. "I think its time for me to head on out of here."

"Where are you going?" Rudolph asked as he stood up.

"I figured that I should just head on out of here since everything is under control. I can't spend the rest of my summer vacation here. Don't forget to let me know when the wedding is, ok?"

"Well I have to, you have a very important role Sonic."

"Really? What role?"

"Mejor Hombre."

"What!" Sonic asked in confusion.

"My best man." Hearing this, Sonic froze staring at Rudolph.

"Really, why?"

"You said it yourself, you're my very first and best friend. I think it's only fair that you have that honor.

"Gee, thanks man." Sonic said with a smile. "Though I hate to ruin this little mushy moment, I'm going get out of here. If anyone asks, just tell them I'll see them when I see them."

"Sure, take care Sonic." Rudolph said as he extended his hand.

Sonic looked at his hand and with a grin as he slapped, and shook his hand. "Yeah, and you better take care of Tikal and your people. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Good. See ya later dude." Sonic grinned as he jumped off the building and dashed into the desert leaving Rudolph to watch his image fad in the sunset.


End file.
